Nature's open-access offering may sound death knell for subs model

"The launch by Nature Publishing Group (NPG) of a high-volume open-access journal spanning the natural sciences is being tipped to accelerate the extinction of subscription fees in science publishing, and could also prompt the closure of many specialist journals....Mark Patterson, director of publishing at PLoS, said the recent launch of several PLoS ONE "lookalikes" reflected the journal's "phenomenal success". In the four years since its launch, PLoS ONE has grown into what PLoS believes is the largest peer- reviewed journal in the world, with almost 7,000 articles published last year. "We believe that these new journals have the potential to dramatically accelerate the transition from traditional subscription-based publishing towards comprehensive open access to all new research," Dr Patterson said....Cameron Neylon, an academic editor at PLoS ONE...agreed,...[saying that] between them, PLoS ONE and Scientific Reports could mop up the vast majority of published papers in the sciences, leaving a small number of top-tier journals standing for the 'very best' science. I think this is the death knell for the majority of 'middling' journals and the large number of low-volume, low-profit, low-prestige journals." ..."