£2m journals bill defended by Brighton and Sussex universities (From The Argus)

“Universities are spending almost £2 million a year on academic journals while the backlash against the academic publishing industry grows. The University of Sussex spent £1.2 million on 23,000 titles while its Brighton counterpart spent more than £600,000 in the last financial year on subscriptions to more than 17,000 academic magazines. A protest movement has seen more than 12,000 researchers sign a petition against leading academic publishers for what they claim are excessive prices for journal subscriptions. Now researchers at theUniversity of Brightonhave launched a new free journal which will carry articles on research and potential scientific breakthroughs in the field of nano-technology... Researchers from the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Group at the University of Brighton are now leading an open access model where submissions are free for the first two years. Once the journal is established, it is anticipated that authors will be charged an article processing fee to cover some of the ongoing costs of publication. It will focus on research results in the development of nanomaterials and their impact in the environment, from civil engineering to water, soil and air decontamination techniques to environmental monitoring devices. A University of Sussex spokeswoman said 1,450,066 individual articles were downloaded for use by students and researchers from these subscriptions at an average cost per download of £0.85. It has 12,000 students and 1,000 researchers. She added the university fully supported the move to open access publishing. She said: ‘The rise of digital technologies has undoubtedly challenged the status quo in terms of academic publishing and the move to open access is to be welcomed.’ A University of Brighton spokeswoman said the university’s average annual spend on journals was about £30 for each of its 21,000 students. She added: ‘Journals improve the quality of learning and provide valuable contributions to the student experience and to the research capacity of the university. We do not consider our expenditure on journals as exorbitant.’”