Disrupting the subscription journals’ business model for the necessary large-scale transformation to open access

SOR-EDU Disrupting the subscription journals’ business model for the necessary large-scale transformation to open access A Max Planck Digital Library Open Access Policy White Paper Ralf Schimmer, Kai Karin Geschuhn*, and Andreas Vogler Max Planck Digital Library, Amalienstraße, 33, 80799 München, Germany *Corresponding author’s e-mail address: Published online: 10 June 2015 (version 1) Cite as: Schimmer et al. ScienceOpen Research 2015 (DOI: 10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-EDU.AJRG23.v1) Reviewing status: Please note that this article is under continuous review. For the current reviewing status and the latest referee’s comments please click here or scan the QR code at the end of this article. Primary discipline Information & Library science Keywords Article-processing charges, Scholarly publishing, Journal subscriptions, Open access, Open access transition ABSTRACT the number of papers it publishes and in the citations it is attracting. It is a truism among publishers that new journals nowadays can be brought to market only if they are open access; a new journal has no real future if it is placed on the subscription track. Though open access is taking its publication share away from the journals’ subscription element, this tendency is not mirrored by a shift of costs from subscriptions to open access fees. At present, the costs for open access publishing services come as an add-on to a persisting subscription system that continues to extract annual price increases above inflation from the libraries of the world. It is not hard to predict that the acceleration of open access can be sustained only if the subscription budgets are opened up to be utilized for publication services as well. Furthermore, the final breakthrough to a comprehensive open access publishing system cannot be achieved unless library acquisition budgets are repurposed so as to consolidate the system’s two current streams into a single undertaking: to provide the best possible publishing services for the patron researchers. This calls for the removal of the scarcities and restrictions that have been artificially imposed by the toll-access system. Therefore the next and perhaps final round in the evolution to a 21stcentury publication system must be the transformation of the existing subscription journals to a purely open access model. This will be achieved by converting the existing library acquisition funds into a budget for publication services, which can be expected to be eventually rather more stratified than article-processing charges (APCs) as we know them today. The purpose of this paper is to assert the necessity of a largescale transformation of the current subscription journals to an open access business model and that this transformation can be achieved only by an equally large-scale transformation or liberation of the library acquisition budgets. We show that the money spent annually in the subscription system is already sufficient to accomplish this. The new fundamentals would This paper makes the strong, fact-based case for a large-scale transformation of the current corpus of scientific subscription journals to an open access business model. The existing journals, with their well-tested functionalities, should be retained and developed to meet the demands of 21st-century research, while the underlying payment streams undergo a major restructuring. There is sufficient momentum for this decisive push toward open access publishing. The diverse existing initiatives must be coordinated so as to converge on this clear goal. The international nature of research implies that this transformation will be achieved on a truly global scale only through a consensus of the world’s most eminent research organizations. All the indications are that the money already invested in the research publishing system is sufficient to enable a transformation that will be sustainable for the future. There needs to be a shared understanding that the money currently locked in the journal subscription system must be withdrawn and re-purposed for open access publishing services. The current library acquisition budgets are the ultimate reservoir for enabling the transformation without financial or other risks. The goal is to preserve the established service levels provided by publishers that are still requested by researchers, while redefining and reorganizing the necessary payment streams. By disrupting the underlying business model, the viability of journal publishing can be preserved and put on a solid footing for the scholarly developments of the future. INTRODUCTION The uptake of open access in recent years has been remarkable. Articles in open access are the most dynamic growth area in scientific publishing and have reached a market share of 13% (without even counting the hybrid component, which has also been growing rapidly as a result of British encouragement following the Finch report). In just a few short years PLoS One has become the largest journal in the world, both in 1 SOR-EDU Schimmer et al.: Disrupting the subscription journals’ business model for the necessary large-scale transformation The ‘hybrid’ approach is an evolutionary step enable the publishing regime to arrive in the digital era, and would also support both publishers and librarians to re-define their roles and to develop their professional scope. After years of widespread anxiety and stress, the framework for a modern, realistic, and sustainable system could finally be realized through a large-scale transition to a congruous business model. Certain subscription journals have made an evolutionary step toward open access by offering some of their articles on an open access basis. While this approach is reassuring for publishers, since they also continue to receive subscription income, the article-processing costs tend to be high.1 Furthermore, there is concern about so-called double dipping, whereby an article is effectively paid for twice, through both subscription expenses and an APC, in a context in which publishers may not always be transparent about proposed reductions in subscription price.2 Many commentators have pointed out that a hybrid-supporting institution would – even with publishers’ proposed reductions – get only very marginal monetary refunds for its investment. IMPORTANT BUT LIMITED INITIATIVES Since the start of the open access debate, various initiatives have brought changes to academic publishing, but they have all been limited in their scope and impact. Open access is making some progress, as seen in the uptake of the ‘Gold’ approach and the emergence of the particular example of Sponsoring Consortium of Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP3) as a model and inspiration. There is also increasing interest within the political sphere that reflects a push for better access to publicly funded research; and industry players have also been devising new approaches to open access. Nevertheless, the current sub (...truncated)