The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics: Society publishers: time to quit whining and make the leap to open access

“The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) just released a report called: The potential effect of making journals free after a six month embargo.  Conclusions are that: ‘the impact on all publishers’ revenues would be considerable’ and ‘It is strongly recommended that no mandate is issued on making all or most journal articles available free of charge after a six month embargo until both libraries and publishers have had time to understand the issues better and have together taken steps to explore alternatives to a fully open access publishing model which could be mutually attractive’... Comment - in brief... This post will focus on the second argument, that time is needed to explore alternatives to a fully open access publishing model. In brief, both libraries and publishers have been in discussions about the need to transition to an appropriate publishing system for the World Wide Web for at least a decade and a half - ALPSP itself was talking about this at least as early as 1997. Most of us have moved far beyond the discussions stage. Libraries are actively providing support for open access publishing, including hosting and support services for faculty and society publishing and funds for article processing fees. There are close to 8,000 fully open access journals listed in DOAJ - many in the humanities and social sciences - including commercial journals that are turning a healthy profit, illustrating that open access is a viable business model. There are a great many supports available for publishers wishing to move to open access, including David Solomon's Developing open access journals: a practical guide and the SPARC guide on income models for open access. If publishers have not yet made the switch to open access, this is a clear indication that discussions and support for change is not enough; public policy is needed... Details...”