Publishers try out alternative pathways to open access

Science Magazine  March 13, 2020
Article-processing fees (APCs) can run several thousand dollars per paper. Two non-profit publishers, Annual Review and ACM, have debuted new ways to support Open Access journals without shifting the burden entirely to authors. In the Annual Reviews model to make a journal freely available, institutions would be asked for a contribution equivalent to their previous subscription—minus a 5% discount that Annual Reviews to retain a critical mass of paying institutions. It will reimpose paywalls and rescind the discount if not enough subscribers renew each year. ACM is asking the institutions that publish the most papers in its 59 journals to pay more than they do now for subscriptions but allow all researchers at participating universities to publish an unlimited number of papers in ACM journals without paying APCs. So far, both approaches are getting a positive response. Even if the models succeed, it’s not clear they would spread…read more.