Reprint: The Economics of Electronic Journals

Can electronic publications be operated at much lower costs than print journals, and still provide all the services that scholars require? That key question is still in dispute. Available evidence shows that much-less-expensive journals are possible on the Net. It is probable that such journals will dominate in the area of basic scholarly publishing. However, the transition is likely to be complicated, since the scholarly publishing business is full of inertia and perverse economic incentives.

This article is to be included in Technology and Scholarly Communication, R. Ekman and R. Quandt, eds., University of California Press, 1998. Used with permission. First published in First Monday 2(8) (August 1997), https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v2i8.542