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I don't think its right to say they add no value. They definitely don't add value anywhere near what they charge (clearly based on their profit margins) but the
by s0rce 9y ago
I don't think its right to say they add no value. They definitely don't add value anywhere near what they charge (clearly based on their profit margins) but they do provide a service (albeit often minor). They coordinate reviewers (who they don't compensate), certain journals (Nature and Science in my experience) provide typesetting and editorial service beyond just basic copyediting, they provide a website to download the content.
I'm in no way saying these services couldn't easily be replicated at a much lower/negligible cost but they do provide a service.
- Fomite 9y agoAdditionally, I am a member of several societies who have outsourced their journal publication to a commercial publisher, and who use the money from those contracts to pay for society activities like travel scholarships, etc.
- xamuel 9y agoMinor correction: many publishers don't even coordinate the reviewers. That's usually left to editors. Editors are generally unpaid, or are paid some trivial insignificant amount.
- Mediterraneo10 9y ago> They ... provide typesetting and editorial service beyond just basic copyediting. Not necessarily. For-profit publishers today – perhaps more often than not – expect the unpaid volunteer editors of the journal to do any typesetting or copy-editing, and then just send the publisher a camera-ready PDF to print.