Continued adventures in open access: 2009 perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT Many publishers have actively responded to the open access (OA) movement and have developed a variety of new models and policies as a result. Of those adopting OA models, the majority seek to cover costs through author‐side charges in the region of US$1,000–3,000. Optional or ‘hybrid’ OA models are increasingly commonplace, although most are experiencing uptake of below 10%, with some notable exceptions. Early evidence from these initiatives suggests that OA leads to an increase in online usage. Meanwhile numerous fully OA journals have launched, and a few subscription journals have made the transition to full OA. Several case studies indicate that fully OA models reliant upon author‐side charges are viable, depending on authors being able and willing to pay publication charges, and other influential factors including rejection rate. Most authors continue to rank other considerations, including speed of publication, quality of peer review, and impact factor, as more important than a journal's OA policies, although funder and university‐level mandates seem likely to have an increasing influence on an author's choice of where to publish. This article provides a number of case studies of gold OA journals – both hybrid and fully OA – with a particular focus on the sustainability of these models.

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