4 ms·

Gold open access is where the authors pay the journal a fee for open access publishing. I don't see what's wrong with that and actually I think it's the best a

Gold open access is where the authors pay the journal a fee for open access publishing. I don't see what's wrong with that and actually I think it's the best approach. The journal offers a service (editing, hosting, ...) and charge for that. Very simple.

tagrun 10y ago
If it was so simple as service -> $$$, they should be paying up the referees, which is the only task that requires rarely found scientific skills. I seriously can't see how editing, typesetting and hosting can host that much, or can make them a respectable journal. No-name journals (for which top scientists don't referee) have that too. BTW, Americal Physical Society journals don't even do that and outsource typesetting and editing.
semi-extrinsic 10y ago
The main problem is that the open access fees are so insane. Publishers currently have ridiculous profit margins, and of course they're going to try and maintain them. Unless some US/EU regulations kick in and set a reasonable max limit to open access fees, the situation is just as bad (perhaps even worse) than the status quo: Now, researchers from "poor" universities, small research institutuons, third world countries etc. don't get full access to the published literatute. But at least they can publish freely. If gold open access becomes the standard, they won't afford publishing anymore.
- tmalsburg2 10y ago
  > The main problem is that the open access fees are so insane. I'm confident that the market will take care of this. If there are people who can't or don't want to pay $3000 for an article and the profit margins are huge, there is room for journals who offer a better deal.
  - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
    I don't think so. The problem is that the market is completely dominated by a few big publishers, and that it's a really hard market to disrupt because everything is about prestige.
    - tmalsburg2 10y ago
      The market has already started to change with new players like PlosOne and Peer-J successfully competing with the more traditional publishers.

tagrun 10y ago

If it was so simple as service -> $$$, they should be paying up the referees, which is the only task that requires rarely found scientific skills. I seriously can't see how editing, typesetting and hosting can host that much, or can make them a respectable journal. No-name journals (for which top scientists don't referee) have that too. BTW, Americal Physical Society journals don't even do that and outsource typesetting and editing.

semi-extrinsic 10y ago

The main problem is that the open access fees are so insane. Publishers currently have ridiculous profit margins, and of course they're going to try and maintain them. Unless some US/EU regulations kick in and set a reasonable max limit to open access fees, the situation is just as bad (perhaps even worse) than the status quo: Now, researchers from "poor" universities, small research institutuons, third world countries etc. don't get full access to the published literatute. But at least they can publish freely. If gold open access becomes the standard, they won't afford publishing anymore.

tmalsburg2 10y ago
> The main problem is that the open access fees are so insane. I'm confident that the market will take care of this. If there are people who can't or don't want to pay $3000 for an article and the profit margins are huge, there is room for journals who offer a better deal.
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago
  I don't think so. The problem is that the market is completely dominated by a few big publishers, and that it's a really hard market to disrupt because everything is about prestige.
  - tmalsburg2 10y ago
    The market has already started to change with new players like PlosOne and Peer-J successfully competing with the more traditional publishers.