‘Native’ open access publishers propose a new publishing deal - ScienceGuide

"A maximum average article publication fee of €1400 for full open access publishing, without additional charges to the authors. That is the proposition of the TTOA consortium of open access publishers put to the European community today. The proposal could drastically alter the course of the EU roadmap to 100% open access in 2020. In the midst of a multitude of on-going open access negotiations with major publishing houses throughout Europe a consortium of mainly ‘native’ open access publishers now raises the stakes. They propose a provision that could drastically alter the outcome of the open access negotiations. Where most open access deals involve a price hike, the consortium offers a price reduction. The TTOA consortium , consisting of PLoS, Ubiquity Press and others , offers an open access “platform” set out to facilitate the publication of peer reviewed and open access publications in their journals. After submitting an article to a common portal authors indicate a hierarchy of journals in which they hope their article gets published. Using a ‘portable’ system of peer review the publication will then be guided to the final journal in which it is published. The publishers will charge a fee of €1400 on average. This is a number much lower than the current €3800 – €5000 per article the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) estimates the current price per publication to be. This fee will come with a transparent breakdown of the costs and prevents any charges to the author itself, preventing the possibility of double dipping ...."