MDPI

APCs comparisons among different publishers in 2019

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Abstract

This post features 4 comparisons between publishers and sub-publishers of fully open access journals that are included in our longitudinal APC study. Traditional publisher Wolters Kluwer owns two sub-publishers (or imprints). Wolters Kluwer Medknow journals tend not to charge APCs, and have low prices when they do charge. Wolters Kluwer Lippincott journals tend to charge, and prices are high. Indonesian-based Universitas Negeri Semerang is now one of the world’s largest OA journal publishers by the number of journals and appears to be new to online publishing using open-source software. Very few of their journals have APCs. The traditional Oxford University Press tends to have APCs, and their APCs are more than twice as high as a new UK-based not-for-profit OA journal publisher, Ubiquity Press. MDPI and Hindawi are very similar, both are fairly new, APC based commercial OA journal publishers; but Hindawi’s average APC is 44% higher than MDPIs. To understand the economics of OA journal publishing, it is necessary to take into account the strategies of particular publishers and even sub-publishers.

Research Question: are publishers and sub-publishers of fully open access journals pursuing observably different strategies with respect to publication fees (charging / non-charging, pricing strategies).

Method: 4 pairs of publishers or sub-publishers (imprints) were selected for comparison using the data from OA Main 2019, based on what appear to be differences in approach by publishers that are otherwise similar: Wolters Kluwer’s Medknow (India-based, OA in origin) & Lippincott (U.S. based, traditional subscriptions in origin); university-based publishers Universitas Negeri Semarang (Indonesia) & University of Oxford (U.K.); University of Oxford & Ubiquity (both U.K. based, traditional subscriptions v. OA origin) and MDPI & Hindawi (both commercial, OA in origin based on the APC model). Status of fully OA journals published by each publisher was compared, focusing on the tendency to charge (or not) and the amount of APC for charging journals.

Detail

1.Wolters Kluwer Medknow & Lippincott

Wolters Kluwer is one of the world’s oldest commercial scholarly publishers, having been established in 1836 in the Netherlands, where the company’s global headquarters is still located (Wolters Kluwer,2019a).

After acquiring Medknow in 2011, Wolters Kluwer focuses on develop strategic partnerships and leverage global brand and strengthen go-to-market (Wolters Kluwer,2019a). However, in Wolter Kluwer 2019 half-year financial report says: “Recurring revenues accounted for 80% of total revenues and grew 5% organically (HY 2018: 5%). Recurring revenues include subscriptions and other renewing revenue streams”. In the report, they also publish their major revenue (85.5%) comes from digital and service subscription and open access APC does not show as a certain type of revenues below (Wolters Kluwer,2019b).

Chart 1. Wolters Kluwer 2019 Half-Year financial Report

Medknow & Lippincott are different sub-publishers (imprints) belonging to Wolters Kluwer.

In 2019, Wolters Kluwers Medknow publishes 527 journals among which 99 journals (18.8%) have an APC, over half of journals do not charge a publication fee (66.6%). It is also important to notice that a few journals are redirecting to risky URL which is concerning as there are chances, it has been stolen by some other company (Avasthi, N & Morrison, H, 2019). Among the 99 journals with an APC that were studied, the highest APC is 1,500 USD and the minimal price is 9 USD. The average APC is 200 USD per article and, the most common publication fee (mode) is 150 USD per article.

2019 APC Wolters Kluwers Medknow website

For Wolters Kluwers Lippincott’s fully OA journals, over two-thirds of its journals (71.9%) have a publication fee. Among the 23 journals, the average APC is 1,756 USD per article, the range of APC (article proceeding cost) starts from 1,000 USD to 2,250 USD, and most common APC (mode) is 1,500 USD per article.
Compare to Medknow, Lippincott has a much higher average APC. Lippincott’s average publication fee is almost 9 times the average of Medknow which is 200 USD. A lower standard deviation of Medknow indicates that the publication fees tend to be close to the mean (200 USD) of the set, while a high standard deviation of Lippincott indicates that the publication fees are spread out over a wider range.

2019 APC Wolters Kluwers Lippincott website

2. Universitas Negeri Semarang & University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is one of the oldest scholarly publishers officially established in 1668. From the late 1800s, Oxford University Press began to expand significantly and makes most of its revenue from subscription and book sales.

Universitas Negeri Semarang , it appears to be fairly new to online publishing; in DOAJ the first year of online publication is 2009 or later for all the journals (column IO). Most of the journals appear to be published in Indonesian and/or English. The platform used is OJS – open source journal publishing software developed by the Public Knowledge Project. In other words, we have contrasted a very old, traditional, UK-based publisher with a new approach. (Note the size of OA journal publishing by UNS – see Appendix A.)

Universitas Negeri Semarang, based in Indonesia, is among the largest fully open access publishers with 96 journals. According to DOAJ webpage, Indonesia becomes the second largest country of publisher by number of journals ( see Appendix B.) and Indonesian rupiah becomes the 6th among all the original currencies for OA journals which accounts for 1.86%. The University of Oxford is a very well-known traditional scholarly publisher. These two university publishers have different approaches to APC. After comparing these two publishers we found Universitas Negeri Semarang has no publication fee for 88.5% of its journals while the University of Oxford has a fee for 80.3% of its fully open access journals.

3. University of Oxford and Ubiquity

As mentioned before, Oxford University Press is one of the oldest scholarly publishers which has a rich history which can be traced back to the earliest days of printing.

Ubiquity Press as an open access publisher of peer-reviewed academic journals and books was founded by researchers at University College London (UCL) in 2012. As a highly cost-efficient press, it provides access to the platform to give universities and societies the infrastructure and services they need to run their own presses through the Ubiquity Partner Network and allow societies to earn income from open access.

The average price of Ubiquity journals that only charge in GBP is 469 GBP (596 USD) and the most common price among those journals (mode) is 300 GBP (381 USD). The average price of Oxford University Press journals that only charge in GBP is 4543 GBP (5769 USD) and the most common price among those journals (mode) is 1250 GBP (1587 USD). The chart below shows the differences between Ubiquity and Oxford University Press on the APC that charged in GBP.

The overall average APC of Ubiquity journals that have a fee is 577 USD while the overall average APC of the University of Oxford is 1,549 USD. The average APC difference between these two publishers is 972 USD.

2019 APC Ubiquity publisher website

4.MDPI and Hindawi

Hindawi is one of the world’s largest publishers of peer-reviewed, fully Open Access journals. Built on an ethos of openness, it works with the global academic community to promote open scholarly research to the world. Based in institutions around the globe, it focuses on serving authors while preserving robust publishing standards and editorial integrity.

MDPI has supported academic communities since 1996 as a non-profit institute for the promotion and preservation of the diversity of chemical compounds. Based in Basel, Switzerland, MDPI has the mission to foster open scientific exchange in all forms, across all disciplines.
Mr. Dietrich Rordorf joined MDPI as Dr. Shu-Kun Lin’s assistant in August 2005. As an experiment, a modified version of the online submission and editorial system based on the Open Journals System (http://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/) was launched by Dietrich for IJMS. Nowadays, MDPI has become the 7th largest publisher in number of articles published in 2018, and the largest publisher of open access articles in DOAJ in 2018.

MDPI and Hindawi charge fees for all the journals they published in 2019. However, their publication fees are different as the charts show below. Even though the highest APC are quite close for both publisher (2,049 USD for MDPI and 2,300 USD for Hindawi), the average APC for MDPI is 822 USD and 1,186 USD for Hindawi. We can also see the difference through mode. The most common price of Hindawi is 950 USD per article (Shi, A., 2019) while the most most common APC for MDPI journals is 350 CHF (359 USD) in 2019.

Cite as: Shi, A & Morrison, H. (2019). APCs comparisons among different publishers in 2019. Sustaining the knowledge https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2019/11/26/apcs-comparisons-among-different-publishers-in-2019/

Reference:

Morrison, H. (2018). MDPI 2019: price increases, some hefty, and more coming in July. Sustaining the knowledge https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2019/02/13/mdpi-2019-price-increases-some-hefty-and-more-coming-in-july/
Avasthi, N & Morrison, H. (2019). Medknow 2019 – is this the best for India? Sustaining the Knowledge commons. https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2019/11/23/medknow-2019-is-this-the-best-for-india/
Shi, A. (2019). Hindawi APC comparison 2018-2019. Sustaining the knowledge https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2019/11/05/hindawi-apc-comparison-2018-2019/
Brutus, W. (2015). Oxford Open: Increased the Number of Open Access Journal. Sustaining the knowledge https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2016/11/17/oxford-open-increased-the-number-of-open-access-journal/
Pasha, H. (2019). Open Access in 2019: Original currencies for article processing charge. Sustaining the knowledge https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2019/11/26/open-access-in-2019-original-currencies-for-article-processing-charge/
Pasha, H. (2018). Medknow in 2018: growing fast! Sustaining the knowledge https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2018/12/13/medknow-in-2018-growing-fast/
Hindawi (2019). About Hindawi. Retrieved Nov. 19, 2019 from https://about.hindawi.com/
MDPI (2019). Overview. Retrieved Nov. 19, 2019 from https://www.mdpi.com/about
Wolters Kluwer (2019)a. Our heritage. Retrieved Nov. 19, 2019 from https://wolterskluwer.com/company/about-us/our-heritage
Wolters Kluwer (2019)b. Wolters Kluwer 2019 Half-Year Report. Retrieved Nov. 19, 2019 from https://wolterskluwer.com/binaries/content/assets/wk/pdf/investors/press-releases/2019.07.31-wolters-kluwer-2019-half-year-report.pdf
Ubiquity Press (2019). About Ubiquity Press. Retrieved Nov. 19, 2019 from https://www.ubiquitypress.com/site/about-general/

Appendix A

Publishers in DOAJ in descending order of number of journals

As of Nov. 19, 2019, Universitas Negeri Semarang is the 12th largest publisher by number of journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

Elsevier (339)
BMC (328)
Sciendo (326)
Hindawi Limited (238)
SpringerOpen (202)
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications (194)
MDPI AG (191)
SAGE Publishing (165)
Taylor & Francis Group (163)
Wiley (109)
Dove Medical Press (103)
Universitas Negeri Semarang (90)

Appendix B

Country of publisher in DOAJ in descending order of number of journals

As of Nov. 21, 2019, Indonesia becomes the second largest country of publisher by number of journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

United Kingdom (1,609)
Indonesia (1,565)
Brazil (1,445)
Spain (755)
United States (741)
Poland (619)
Iran, Islamic Republic of (511)
Turkey (404)
Italy (387)
Russian Federation (367)

MDPI 2019: price increases, some hefty, and more coming in July

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In brief: MDPI has increased prices, in many cases quite substantially (some prices have more than tripled). Even more price increases are anticipated in July 2019, which will have the effect of doubling the average APC and tripling the most common APC. Unlike other publishers’ practices, there are no price decreases.

Comment and recommendation: open access advocates, along with policy makers and research funders, and keen to support a transition to open access. In my opinion, the enthusiasm of payers to support APC journals is causing an unhealthy and unsustainable distortion in the market. My advice: stick with green OA policy. Require deposit of funded works in an open access repository. This is a better means to ensure ongoing preservation and open access, and exerts market pressure in a way that is more suited to the development of an economically sustainable open access system.

Details

Details, data, and links to very raw data follow. Comments and math-checking are most welcome.

February 2018 to February 2019.

MDPI lists 203 journals as of February 13, 2019. Of these, since this time last year, 74 or 36% have either started charging APCs, or have increased their APCs by 7% – 227% or 100 CHF – 1,250 CHF. For example, the APC of Cells rose from 550 to 1,800 CHF, a 227% increase, that is, the price more than tripled. As of today, according to XE Currency Converter, the CHF is worth .99 of USD, or very close to par. 17 journals are new. MDPI had no price decreases in 2019.

February to July 2019

MDPI lists price changes coming in July 2019 on their website (kudos for transparency). 160 of MDPI’s journals (79% of their journals) will have a price change in July 2019, either introducing an APC for the first time or increasing in price by 9% – 243% or 100 – 850 CHF. The net effect is a doubling or tripling of central tendencies. The average APC doubles from 546 CHF to 1,077 CHF. The median or mid-point and mode or most common APC triples from 350 CHF to 1,000 CHF. These figures exclude “free” journals, which are currently the mode or most common price.

MDPI Central Tendencies 2019 in CHF
Feb 2019 July 2019
Average APC 546 1,077
Median 350 1000
Mode 350 1000
Excludes “free” journals with no APC (yet).

MDPI journal price changes Feb. 2018 – Feb. 2019

Journal 2018 APC 2019 APC 2019 – 2018 in CHF 2019 / 2018 %
Cells 550 1800 1250 227%
Processes 350 1100 750 214%
Journal of Clinical Medicine 650 1800 1150 177%
Electronics (Basel) 550 1400 850 155%
Mathematics 350 850 500 143%
Biosensors 350 650 300 86%
Bioengineering (Basel) 300 550 250 83%
Insects 550 1000 450 82%
Microorganisms 550 1000 450 82%
Pharmaceutics 550 1000 450 82%
Agronomy 550 1000 450 82%
Cancers 1000 1800 800 80%
Atoms 350 550 200 57%
Computers 350 550 200 57%
Diseases 350 550 200 57%
Education Sciences 350 550 200 57%
Fibers 350 550 200 57%
Lubricants 350 550 200 57%
Machines 350 550 200 57%
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 350 550 200 57%
Diagnostics 550 850 300 55%
Geosciences 550 850 300 55%
Journal of Functional Biomaterials 550 850 300 55%
Animals 650 1000 350 54%
Biomolecules 650 1000 350 54%
Pathogens 650 1000 350 54%
Scientia Pharmaceutica 600 850 250 42%
Land 550 750 200 36%
Coatings 1200 1600 400 33%
Brain Sciences 650 850 200 31%
Forests 1400 1800 400 29%
Metals 1200 1500 300 25%
Catalysts 1300 1600 300 23%
Sustainability 1400 1700 300 21%
Toxins 1500 1800 300 20%
Buildings 550 650 100 18%
Foods 550 650 100 18%
Vaccines 550 650 100 18%
Behavioral Sciences 550 650 100 18%
Algorithms 850 1000 150 18%
Future Internet 850 1000 150 18%
Information 850 1000 150 18%
Membranes 850 1000 150 18%
Metabolites 850 1000 150 18%
Crystals 1200 1400 200 17%
Micromachines 1200 1400 200 17%
Minerals 1200 1400 200 17%
Symmetry 1200 1400 200 17%
Energies 1600 1800 200 13%
Genes 1600 1800 200 13%
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 1600 1800 200 13%
Materials 1600 1800 200 13%
Viruses 1600 1800 200 13%
Marine Drugs 1800 2000 200 11%
Nutrients 1800 2000 200 11%
Applied Sciences 1400 1500 100 7%
Entropy 1500 1600 100 7%
Nanomaterials 1500 1600 100 7%
Water 1500 1600 100 7%
Colloids and Interfaces 0 1000 1000 Price introduced in 2018
Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease 0 1000 1000 Price introduced in 2018
International Journal of Neonatal Screening 0 500 500 Price introduced in 2018
Batteries 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Beverages 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Fermentation 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Geriatrics 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Journal of Fungi 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Journal of Imaging 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Journal of Intelligence 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Magnetochemistry 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Medical Sciences 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Non-Coding RNA 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Safety 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease 0 350 350 Price introduced in 2018
Actuators 350 350 0 No change
Administrative Sciences 350 350 0 No change
Antibiotics 550 550 0 No change
Antibodies 350 350 0 No change
Antioxidants 550 550 0 No change
Applied System Innovation 0 0 0 No change
Arts 0 0 0 No change
Atmosphere 1400 1400 0 No change
Axioms 350 350 0 No change
Big Data and Cognitive Computing 0 0 0 No change
Biology 650 650 0 No change
Biomedicines 550 550 0 No change
Biomimetics 0 0 0 No change
Ceramics 0 0 0 No change
Challenges 0 0 0 No change
ChemEngineering 0 0 0 No change
Chemosensors 350 350 0 No change
Climate 550 550 0 No change
Condensed Matter 0 0 0 No change
Cosmetics 350 350 0 No change
Cryptography 0 0 0 No change
Data 0 0 0 No change
Dentistry Journal 350 350 0 No change
Designs 0 0 0 No change
Diversity 850 850 0 No change
Drones 0 0 0 No change
Econometrics 350 350 0 No change
Economies 0 0 0 No change
Environments 300 300 0 No change
Fire 0 0 0 No change
Fishes 0 0 0 No change
Fluids 0 0 0 No change
Fractal and Fractional 0 0 0 No change
Galaxies 350 350 0 No change
Games 550 550 0 No change
Gels 0 0 0 No change
Genealogy 0 0 0 No change
Healthcare 550 550 0 No change
High-throughput 350 350 0 No change
Horticulturae 0 0 0 No change
Hydrology 350 350 0 No change
Infrastructures 0 0 0 No change
Instruments 0 0 0 No change
International Journal of Financial Studies 350 350 0 No change
International Journal of Molecular Sciences 1800 1800 0 No change
International Journal of Turbomachinery, Propulsion and Power 300 300 0 No change
Inventions 0 0 0 No change
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 1000 1000 0 No change
Journal of Developmental Biology 350 350 0 No change
Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology 0 0 0 No change
Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications 350 350 0 No change
Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing 0 0 0 No change
Journal of Personalized Medicine 550 550 0 No change
Journal of Risk and Financial Management 350 350 0 No change
Languages 0 0 0 No change
Laws 350 350 0 No change
Life 650 650 0 No change
Logistics 0 0 0 No change
Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction 0 0 0 No change
Mathematical and Computational Applications 300 300 0 No change
Medicines 350 350 0 No change
Molbank 350 350 0 No change
Molecules 1800 1800 0 No change
Multimodal Technologies and Interaction 0 0 0 No change
Neuroglia 0 0 0 No change
Particles 0 0 0 No change
Pharmaceuticals 850 850 0 No change
Pharmacy 550 550 0 No change
Philosophies 0 0 0 No change
Photonics 350 350 0 No change
Plants 550 550 0 No change
Plasma 0 0 0 No change
Polymers 1500 1500 0 No change
Proteomes 550 550 0 No change
Publications 0 0 0 No change
Quantum Beam Science 0 0 0 No change
Quaternary 0 0 0 No change
Recycling 0 0 0 No change
Religions 550 550 0 No change
Remote Sensing 1800 1800 0 No change
Reports 0 0 0 No change
Resources 350 350 0 No change
Risks 350 350 0 No change
Robotics 350 350 0 No change
Sensors 1800 1800 0 No change
Separations 350 350 0 No change
Societies 350 350 0 No change
Sports 350 350 0 No change
Stats 0 0 0 No change
Systems 350 350 0 No change
Toxics 350 350 0 No change
Universe 350 350 0 No change
Urban Science 0 0 0 No change
Vibration 0 0 0 No change
Vision 0 0 0 No change
Aerospace (Basel) 550 550 0 No change
Agriculture 550 550 0 No change
C Ð Journal of Carbon Research (now C) 0 0 0 No change
Children (Basel) 550 550 0 No change
Computation (Basel) 350 350 0 No change
Epigenomes 0 0 0 No change
Humanities 350 350 0 No change
Informatics (Basel) 350 350 0 No change
Inorganics (Basel) 550 550 0 No change
Journal of Composite Sciences 0 0 0 No change
Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks 350 350 0 No change
Methods and Protocol 0 0 0 No change
Social Sciences 350 350 0 No change
Soil 0 0 0 No change
Technologies (Basel) 350 350 0 No change
Veterinary Sciences 350 350 0 No change
Acoustics 0 New 2018
AgriEngineering 0 New 2018
Chemistry 1000 New 2018
Clocks & Sleep 0 New 2018
Forecasting 0 New 2018
Gastrointestinal Disorders 0 New 2018
Heritage 0 New 2018
J 0 New 2018
Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity 650 New 2018
Medicina 0 New 2018
Physics 0 New 2018
Psych 0 New 2018
Quantum Reports 0 New 2018
Sci 0 New 2018
Smart Cities 1000 New 2018
Surfaces 0 New 2018
World Electric Vehicle Journal 300 New 2018

MDPI journals with price increases or first APC introduced in July 2019

Journal Feb 2019 APC July 2019 APC July 2019 – 2019 (actually July 2018) July 2019 – 2018 %
Universe 350 1200 850 243%
Environments 300 1000 700 233%
Mathematical and Computational Applications 300 1000 700 233%
Actuators 350 1000 650 186%
Administrative Sciences 350 1000 650 186%
Antibodies 350 1000 650 186%
Axioms 350 1000 650 186%
Batteries 350 1000 650 186%
Beverages 350 1000 650 186%
Chemosensors 350 1000 650 186%
Cosmetics 350 1000 650 186%
Dentistry Journal 350 1000 650 186%
Econometrics 350 1000 650 186%
Fermentation 350 1000 650 186%
Galaxies 350 1000 650 186%
Geriatrics 350 1000 650 186%
High-throughput 350 1000 650 186%
Hydrology 350 1000 650 186%
International Journal of Financial Studies 350 1000 650 186%
Journal of Developmental Biology 350 1000 650 186%
Journal of Fungi 350 1000 650 186%
Journal of Imaging 350 1000 650 186%
Journal of Intelligence 350 1000 650 186%
Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications 350 1000 650 186%
Journal of Risk and Financial Management 350 1000 650 186%
Laws 350 1000 650 186%
Magnetochemistry 350 1000 650 186%
Medical Sciences 350 1000 650 186%
Medicines 350 1000 650 186%
Molbank 350 1000 650 186%
Non-Coding RNA 350 1000 650 186%
Photonics 350 1000 650 186%
Resources 350 1000 650 186%
Risks 350 1000 650 186%
Robotics 350 1000 650 186%
Safety 350 1000 650 186%
Separations 350 1000 650 186%
Societies 350 1000 650 186%
Sports 350 1000 650 186%
Systems 350 1000 650 186%
Toxics 350 1000 650 186%
Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease 350 1000 650 186%
Antibiotics 550 1200 650 118%
Antioxidants 550 1200 650 118%
Plants 550 1200 650 118%
Vaccines 650 1400 750 115%
Foods 650 1200 550 85%
International Journal of Turbomachinery, Propulsion and Power 300 550 250 83%
Atoms 550 1000 450 82%
Biomedicines 550 1000 450 82%
Climate 550 1000 450 82%
Computers 550 1000 450 82%
Diseases 550 1000 450 82%
Education Sciences 550 1000 450 82%
Fibers 550 1000 450 82%
Games 550 1000 450 82%
Healthcare 550 1000 450 82%
Journal of Personalized Medicine 550 1000 450 82%
Lubricants 550 1000 450 82%
Machines 550 1000 450 82%
Pharmacy 550 1000 450 82%
Proteomes 550 1000 450 82%
Religions 550 1000 450 82%
Pharmaceutics 1000 1600 600 60%
Biology 650 1000 350 54%
Biosensors 650 1000 350 54%
Buildings 650 1000 350 54%
Life 650 1000 350 54%
Mathematics 850 1200 350 41%
Metabolites 1000 1400 400 40%
Land 750 1000 250 33%
Pathogens 1000 1300 300 30%
Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity 650 800 150 23%
Animals 1000 1200 200 20%
Biomolecules 1000 1200 200 20%
Insects 1000 1200 200 20%
Microorganisms 1000 1200 200 20%
Diagnostics 850 1000 150 18%
Diversity 850 1000 150 18%
Processes 1100 1200 100 9%
Medicina 0 1500 1,500 Price introduced July 2019
Acoustics 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
AgriEngineering 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Applied System Innovation 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Arts 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Big Data and Cognitive Computing 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Biomimetics 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Ceramics 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Challenges 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
ChemEngineering 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Clocks & Sleep 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Condensed Matter 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Cryptography 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Data 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Designs 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Drones 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Economies 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Fire 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Fishes 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Fluids 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Forecasting 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Fractal and Fractional 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Gastrointestinal Disorders 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Gels 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Genealogy 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Heritage 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Horticulturae 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Infrastructures 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Instruments 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Inventions 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Languages 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Logistics 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Multimodal Technologies and Interaction 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Neuroglia 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Particles 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Philosophies 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Physics 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Plasma 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Publications 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Quantum Beam Science 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Quantum Reports 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Quaternary 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Recycling 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Reports 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Sci 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Stats 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Surfaces 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Urban Science 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Vibration 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019
Vision 0 1000 1,000 Price introduced July 2019

The raw data: caution – these spreadsheets are sub-sets of working files that are provided with no documentation. Data literacy and familiarity with the APC longitudinal project are necessary for interpretation.

MDPI raw data Feb 2019

MDPI raw data July 2019

Cite as:

Morrison, H. (2019). MDPI 2019: Price increases, some hefty, and more coming in July. Sustaining the Knowledge Commons / Soutenir Les Savoirs Communs. Retrieved from https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2019/02/13/mdpi-2019-price-increases-some-hefty-and-more-coming-in-july/

 

MDPI pricing (thanks to MDPI CEO Franck Vazquez, PhD)

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Thanks to MDPI CEO Franck Vazquez, PhD, for permission to re-post his contributions to a discussion on APC pricing on the SCHOLCOMM listserv and my replies. This is useful information and a good model of how transparency can help to advance our understanding of how to move toward sustainability in open access.

Highlights: this post presents data on MDPI’s APCs and an explanation of MDPI’s business practice: new journals are free to publish in, later APCs and APC increases are based on market value. It is important for publishers and funders to understand that there is an essential conflict with funders of scholarly communication, that is, universities and their libraries, and research organizations. For these organizations,  budgets tend to be based on cost with little or no flexibility to accommodate pricing and price increases based on market value. This incompatibility of organizational strategy is equally relevant whether the revenue model is subscriptions, APC, or other production-based support.

Original e-mails:

Sent to SCHOLCOMM April 16, 2018 (as an addition to the research reported on SKC here):

*Subject:* Re: [SCHOLCOMM] Recent APC price changes for 4 publishers (BMC, Hindawi, PLOS, PeerJ)

Adding up the data summary for MDPI to the picture:

•164 journals with numeric data in 2017 (average APC 438CHF) and 2018
(average APC 533CHF)
•107 journals (65.2%) with no change in APC, including 40 journals free
(average APC 375CHF)
•40 journals (24.3%) with APC increase of 6% – 142% (increase range from
100 – 500CHF; average APC increase 219CHF; average percent increase 27.3%)
•17 journals (10.3%) free in 2017, introduced APC in 2018
(250CHF-550CHF; average APC 370CHF)

Original data can be found here:
http://www.mdpi.com/about/apc
http://www.mdpi.com/about/apc-2017

Some Publishers and Journals statistics can also be found here:
https://www.scilit.net/rankings
Please read the “Disclaimer & Notes”.

Hoping this is useful,
Best wishes,
Franck

Franck Vazquez, Ph.D
Chief Executive Officer, MDPI
St. Alban-Anlage 66, 4052 Basel, Switzerland
Tel. +41 61 683 77 34
http://www.mdpi.com
—
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7967-3798
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Franck_Vazquez
https://www.linkedin.com/in/franck-vazquez-932a96a8/

My reply April 16, 2018

Thank you Franck this is very helpful.

According to this website, the current inflation rate for Switzerland is .8, i.e. less than one per cent:
https://tradingeconomics.com/switzerland/consumer-price-index-cpi

I see that a quarter of MDPI’s journals have an average price increase of 27.3%. It appears that MDPI is not making decisions about price increases based on such factors as consumer price increase or inflation rates.

List members who are interested in supporting OA through paying APCs could benefit from understanding how this works in order to budget for future needs. Can you explain MDPI’s current and/or projected future pricing strategy?

MDPI is one of the publishers who offers “free for now” publishing in order to attract content for new journals. As an author, I have benefited from this as well as from MDPI’s high quality professional editing and peer review. However, if those who pay APCs do not take this practice into account, they will find themselves short of funds in future when established journals start charging APCs, as 10% of MDPI’s journals did this year by your account

Two other notes / questions from MDPI for this year that I wonder if you would like to comment on?

* new pricing coming in July
* partnership with Knowledge Unlatched – on MDPI’s APC price list that
some journals are
“* free for authors; APC funded by Knowledge Unlatched
<http://www.knowledgeunlatched.org>” from: http://www.mdpi.com/about/apc

best,

Heather Morrison
Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, University of Ottawa
Professeur Agrégé, École des Sciences de l’Information, Université d’Ottawa
Heather.Morrison@uottawa.ca
https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org
https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/?lang=en#/members/706

PS: if CHF is not your local currency, you can find both current and historical conversion rates through XE currency converter: https://www.xe.com/currencytables/

Franck’s reply April 17:

Thanks Heather, I am glad you had a good experience publishing in /Publications/ (and /Data/)!

Our decision to introduce or increase the APC of a journal depends on many factors including the field of research, the reputation (visibility,citation, indexing), and volume (=age) of the journal. It is not always possible to cover the cost of our work directly and from the beginning. The newest journals are free for a few years, typically three years; researchers would not be able to raise funding to cover the APC of these journals. Also, some journals which support research fields in which OA funding remains marginal do not introduce an APC, even after Volume 6 or more, as it is the case for the journals /Publications/, /Arts/, or a few others. Therefore the costs associated with publishing in these journals must be subsided by the APC of established journals.

The “average 27.3% APC increase for 40 journals” we talk about here results in a mild increase in the average APC of these journals. Average increase is 219 CHF, from 802 CHF in 2017 to 1020 CHF in 2018 for these 40 titles. This is on the lower end of APC distribution for international publishers: https://treemaps.intact-project.org/apcdata/openapc/#publisher/

Concerning the planned increase in July:
Eight journals which were accepted for coverage in SCIE in November will have their APC increased, following the reasoning explained before. As usual we give a >6 months notice to authors before the APC increase becomes effective.

About the partnership with Knowledge Unlatched:
We are running this as a trial for 9 journals which normally apply the indicated APC. We are exploring this funding model as a viable alternative for our HSS journals. For transparency reasons and to give credit to KU for their initiative, we decided to list the APC on the website with the note “* free for authors; APC funded by Knowledge Unlatched” rather than erasing the APC from the website.

Best wishes
Franck

My reply April 17:

Thank you Franck.

What you are describing is normal business practice. In ordinary everyday terms, businesses of all kinds often start out with below-cost pricing (introductory special offers for example), in order to attract customers, then raise prices. When average people sell their homes or other goods, the default is to seek market value (the most I can get for this), rather than cost-based pricing.

MDPI’s transparency may be helpful to those wishing to support the APC approach (publishers and payers), as it gives us an opening to talk about an inherent conflict that might cause shock and setbacks, giving an opportunity to prepare and consider strategies to minimize or avoid the likelihood of this happening.

The inherent conflict stems from the desire of for-profit publishers to derive the maximum value from their work, in contrast to the cost-conscious, accountability focused customer (universities and funding agencies). In subscriptions publishing for many decades there has been an inelastic market, with publishers expecting to raise prices beyond inflationary rates year after year while university-customers do not have corresponding revenue growth to support this. In North America in the last few decades the trend has been flat or declining budgets. Hence the serials crisis, periodic breakdown such as Germany’s Elsevier cancellations and France’s Springer cancellations, and strong desire to change the system which is one of the drivers behind the OA movement, although not a motive shared by all.

What could easily happen is that those who wish to support a flip to OA via APCs will under-budget based on current spend and/or current list prices, resulting in shock and insufficient funds when publishers move to pricing more accurately reflecting costs and/or market value.

Another way to express this: when your library has to deal with budget cuts, or, at best, a flat budget (typical in North America), you are not likely to have much sympathy for a publisher raising prices by 27%, regardless of how rational this might be as a business practice.

This is what I mean in that Publications article when I describe the APC model as volatile. The market, in my opinion, is not sufficiently stable for systemic budgeting purposes. Support for this approach should be considered experimental at this time.

There are other approaches to supply-side funding to provide for open access, such as sponsorships, library publishing, and cost-based APC pricing as practiced by UK-based Ubiquity Press. Those who wish to support APCs, in my opinion, are wise to do so through consortia. Hence my interest in your partnership with Knowledge Unmatched.

best,

Heather Morrison
sustainingknowledgecommons.org

The original e-mails are available on the SCHOLCOMM listserv archives.

Cite this post as:

Vasquez, F. (2018). MDPI pricing (thanks to MDPI CEO Franck Vazquez, PhD). Sustaining the Knowledge Commons / Soutenir Les Savoirs Communs. Retrieved from https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2018/05/16/mdpi-pricing-thanks-to-mdpi-ceo-franck-vazquez-phd/

and/or:

Morrison, H. (2018). Commentary on Vasquez, F. (2018). MDPI pricing (thanks to MDPI CEO Franck Vazquez, PhD). Sustaining the Knowledge Commons / Soutenir Les Savoirs Communs. Retrieved from https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2018/05/16/mdpi-pricing-thanks-to-mdpi-ceo-franck-vazquez-phd/

MPDI : suivi des APCs

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Résumé :

En comparant les frais de publication des différentes revues mentionnées sur le site MDPI entre mars 2016 et mars 2017 nous remarquons quelques différences entre les 2 années.

Ceci dit que les APCs ont augmenté dans 92 % des revues. Cette augmentation oscille entre 6% et 350 %.

Par exemple, les APCs pour la revue Coalitions est passé de 350 CHF en 2016 a 850 CHF en 2017.

Selon le site MDPI, environ 60 revues en libre accès n’exigent pas de frais de publication en 2017.

En observant de près les APCs des différentes revues, nous remarquons qu’il n’y a aucune baisse des frais de publication et que seulement 8% des revues ont gardé les mêmes frais de publication 2016-2017.

mdpi_apc

Texte intégral de l’article

Citation:

Ouerghi, A. (2017). MPDI: Suivi des APCs. Sustaining the Knowledge Commons / Soutenir Les Savoirs Communs. Retrieved from https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2017/03/21/mpdi-suivi-des-apcs/

Comparaison DOAJ et MDPI : Titres et APC

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Résumé :

En comparant les frais de publication mentionnés par DOAJ et ceux de l’éditeur lui-même (MDPI) nous avons remarqué quelques différences : Selon le site MDPI, environ 175 revues en libre accès sont listées contre seulement 146 dans DOAJ.

Par ailleurs, parmi la liste MDPI, 107 revues exigent des frais de publication alors que DOAJ n’en mentionne que 21. Aussi, aucun des frais de publication DOAJ n’est inférieur à celui mentionné par MDPI. Seulement 3 revues ont les mêmes frais. Dans 31 des cas étudiés, les frais MDPI sont plus élevés de 50% et plus que ceux fournis par DOAJ.  Applied Science, l’exemple de différence le plus frappant, passe de 500 CHF en DOAJ à 1200 CHF sur le site MDPI.

Objectif :

Cette étude se propose de comparer la liste des revues répertoriées par DOAJ versus l’éditeur lui-même ; MDPI en l’occurrence; ainsi que la différence des frais de publication mentionnés.

Méthodologie :

L’échantillon est constitué de 107 revues de l’éditeur MDPI.

Nous avons commencé par repêcher les frais de publication sur le site de DOAJ en janvier 2017. Par la suite, nous avons cherché les frais de publication pour ces mêmes revues sur le site de l’éditeur lui-même, MDPI en l’occurrence et ce en février 2017.

Les données sont consignées sur un document Excel pour pouvoir par la suite calculer la différence des APC.

Résultats

  1. Selon le site MDPI, environ 175 revues en libre accès sont listées ; seulement 147 de ces revues sont recensées en DOAJ.

En comparant les APC (frais de publication par l’auteur) des revues répertoriées, nous constatons que DOAJ ne recense pas (ou la liste n’est pas a  jour)toutes les revues en accès libre de l’éditeur MDPI ; seulement 147 sur 175 titres y sont listées. Les 28 revues manquantes a l’appel sont :

  1. Big Data and Cognitive Computing
  2. Biomimetics
  3. ChemEngineering
  4. Condensed Matter
  5. Cryptography
  6. Data
  7. Designs
  8. Drones
  9. Epigenomes
  10. Fermentation
  11. Fishes
  12. Genealogy
  13. Horticulturae
  14. Infrastructures
  15. Instruments
  16. International Journal of Turbomachine Propulsion and Power
  17. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology
  18. Languages
  19. Logistics
  20. Magnetochemistry
  21. Mathematical and Computational Applications
  22. Multimodal Technologies and Interactions
  23. Philosophies
  24. Recycling
  25. Scientia Pharmaceutica
  26. Sinusitis
  27. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease
  28. Vision

Il est à noter que la majorité de ces titres sont de nouvelles revues 2017. Une seule revue « Chromatography » est listée dans DOAJ mais pas sur le site MDPI.

2. Parmi la liste MDPI, 107 revues exigent des frais de publication (APC) seulement 21 ont des frais de publication selon DOAJ (environ 20 %).

3. Pour ces 20 % des revues, aucun APC DOAJ n’est inférieur à celui mentionné par MDPI

En observant les APC fournis par les deux sites, nous remarquons qu’aucun des APC n’a diminué entre janvier 2017 et février 2017.  Seulement 3 desdites revues ont les mêmes frais de publication dans les deux répertoires (lignes vertes), ceci dit environ 86% des APC sont différents.

doaj_mdpi1

Cette augmentation des APC oscille entre 7% et 140 %. L’APC de la revue Applied Sciences est de 500 CHF selon DOAJ versus 1200 CHF selon MDPI.

slide1

4. Les APC fournis par MDPI sont plus élevés que ceux révélés par DOAJ. La différence atteint 50 % ou plus dans 31 % des cas. (revues en jaune et rouge )

mdpi_doaj2

 

Conclusion

En guise de conclusion, les observations ci-dessus nous amènent à se poser une question : Est-ce que l’information fournie par DOAJ est mise a jour?

Les chiffres obtenus démontrent une grande différence non seulement au niveau de la liste des revues en libre accès mais aussi au niveau de l’information fournie aux auteurs, les frais de publication en particulier.

Citation: Ouerghi, A. (2017). Comparaison DOAJ et MDPI: Titres et APC. Sustaining the Knowledge Commons / Soutenir Les Savoirs Communs. Retrieved from https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2017/03/02/comparaison-doaj-et-mdpi-titres-et-apc/

MDPI APC / FDP 2011 – 2016

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Tanoh Laurent Kakou and Heather Morrison

Brief abstract (English)

This post presents highlights of preliminary results of our longitudinal study of the article processing charges (APCs) of MDPI, an open access publisher using the APC business model (exclusively), with new journals offering « free for now »  publication. Thanks to Solomon and Björk (2012) we have data for a sample of 25 of MDPI’s journals that did charge APCs in 2011 (non-charging journals were excluded from their study). The APCs for these 25 journals ranged from 300 CHF to 1,600 CHF, with an average of 624 CHF. Only 1 journal (Algorithms) did not change in price ; all others increased in price from 2011 – 2016. The average APC for this group of journals in 2016 was 1,148 CHF, an average increase of 524 CHF or an 84% increase in 5 years. This compares with a compound U.S. interest rate from 2010 – 2015 of 8.7% as calculated by Sara Wheatley https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2016/04/13/comparison-of-biomed-central-apcs-from-2010-2016/. The EU compound interest rate would have been lower during this time frame, with some years in negative growth. One might say that MDPI’s APCs for established journals have increased by an order of magnitude greater than the overall inflation rate in the past 5 years.

As of March 2016, MDPI listed 155 journals on its website. Of these, nearly half (72 journals) are <>, that is they use the APC model but are not yet charging. The average APC of 359 CHF (662 CHF when non-charging journals are excluded) contrasts with the 1,148 average APC of the 25 journals that were included in the 2011 sample (established journals). From 2014 to 2015 APCs either stayed the same or decreased ; from 2015 to 2016, we see only stable or increasing prices with an average price increase from 2015 to 2016 of 18% (60 CHF increase on a 2015 average APC of 334 CHF).

This case study illustrates one approach to the evolution of a new commercial publisher committed to the APC business model, with new journals offering free publishing until journals are established. APC payers need to take this into account for budgeting purposes; journals that today either are free or have very low APCs may have substantial APCs in a few year’s time.

Following are the original abstract (in French) by data analyst Tanoh Laurence Kakou and a table with the APCs of the 25 journals for which we have APC data for 2011 and 2016.

Résumé (Français)

Nous analysons des données de MDPI APC de 2011 à 2016. Notre recherche consiste à comprendre comment les frais de publication de MDPI ont évolué dans cette période. Nous avons analysé d’abord les données de chaque période. D’abord 2011, 2014, 2015, puis 2016. Puis nous avons comparé l’évolution des frais de 2011 à 2016, de 2014 à 2015 et de 2015 à 2016.

Les données de 2011 sont des prélèvements d’un échantillon effectué en 2011 par Solomon et Björk (2012) sur uniquement 25 revues avec des frais de publication. Ainsi, la moyenne des frais est 624 CHF, la médiane est de 500 CHF et le mode est de 300 CHF. Sensors a les frais de publication les plus élevés (1,600 CHF). Tandis que Molbank détient les moins élevés (200 CHF). En 2016, on a obtenu une moyenne de 345 CHF, une médiane de 300 CHF et un mode de 0 CHF. Sensors, Marine Drugs et Molecules ont les frais (1,800 CHF) les plus élevés. En ce qui a trait à l’évolution des frais entre 2011 et 2016, on obtient une moyenne de 115%, d’une médiane de 75% et d’un mode de 167%. S’agissant de l’évolution du nombre du montant des frais, nous obtenons une moyenne de 523 CHF, d’une médiane de 500 CHF et d’un mode de 200 CHF. Seule les frais de Algorithms n’ont pas changé. Ils sont restés à 300 CHF soit une évolution de 0%. Tandis que Polymers augmente de 367% qui représentent une valeur ajoutée de 1100 CHF.

Concernant les données de 2014 de Morrison et al, (2015) elles ont été effectuées sur toutes les 124 revues au site web de MDPI. On obtient dans cet échantillon, une moyenne de 372 CHF, d’une médiane de 300 CHF et d’un mode 0 CHF. 3 revues : Sensors, Marine Drugs et Molecules détiennent les frais les plus élevés. En 2015, Morrison et al. (2016) ont étudié 141 revues. 70 revues n’avaient pas de frais de publication. Sensors, Marine Drugs et Molecules gardent les mêmes frais (1800 CHF). Par rapport à l’évolution des frais de publication de 2014 à 2015, deux tendances s’observent.

Au niveau de l’évolution des frais des 124 revues de 2014 à 2015, les frais de 84 revues n’ont pas changé. 40 revues ont baissé leurs frais.

En mars 2016, nous avons trouvé 155 revues au site web de MDPI. Presque la moitié (72 revues) sont <>. La moyenne FDP est 359 CHF (662 CHF si on exclut les revues sans frais) la médiane 300 CHF (500 CHF si on exclut les revues sans frais et le mode 0 (300 CHF si on exclut les revues sans frais).

Au niveau de l’évolution 2015 et 2016, la moyenne augmentation est 18%, (60 CHF), une médiane de 0 et un mode de 0.

Conclusion

L’analyse des données de MDPI APC de 2011 à 2016 montre que les frais de publication de cette période ont augmenté en moyenne 84%, allant jusqu’ à 367% pour la revue Polymers. Cependant entre 2014 et 2015, on a constaté une stabilité des frais et même une baisse de 100% de 6 revues : Sports, Systems, Technologies, Toxics, Universe, Veterinary Sciences. Entre 2015 et 2016, on a remarqué en augmentation en moyenne de 18% (60 CHF).

JOURNAL NAME APC 2011 (CHF) APC 2016 (CHF) Change 2016 – 2011
Algorithms 300 300 0
Cancers 300 800 500
Diversity 300 800 500
Energies 800 1,400 600
Entropy 1,000 1,400 400
Future Internet 300 500 200
Games 300 500 200
Genes 300 800 500
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 1,000 1,600 600
International Journal of Molecular Sciences 1,400 1,600 200
Marine Drugs 1,400 1,800 400
Materials 800 1,400 600
Molbank 200 300 100
Molecules 1,400 1,800 400
Nutrients 500 1,500 1,000
Pharmaceuticals 500 800 300
Pharmaceutics 300 500 200
Polymers 300 1,400 1,100
Remote Sensing 500 1,600 1,100
Sensors 1,600 1,800 200
Sustainability 500 1,200 700
Symmetry 300 800 500
Toxins 500 1,400 900
Viruses 500 1,500 1,000
Water 300 1,200 900
Average 624 1,148 524

Réference

Solomon, D.J. & Björk, B.-C. (2012) A study of open access journals using article processing charges. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol. 2012, 63, pp. 1485–1495. Retrieved from http://www.openaccesspublishing.org/apc2/preprint.pdf February 2, 2016.

Citation:

Kakou, T. L., & Morrison, H. (2016). MDPI APC / FDP 2011 – 2016. Sustaining the Knowledge Commons / Soutenir Les Savoirs Communs. Retrieved from https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2016/07/29/mdpi-apc-fdp-2011-2016/

OA APC variation: english language editing

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MDPI provides a good example and explanation of a variation on article processing charges that reflect the work involved, that is, english language editing services. From the MDPI APC website (August 5, 2014):

For journals with an APC of 500 CHF or lower, a charge of 250 CHF will be applied to articles requiring extensive English language editing or formatting. To avoid surcharges, authors are recommended to carefully follow the instructions for authors and use the MS Word or LaTeX template files available on the instructions for authors page of the journal website. We encourage non-native English speaking authors to send their manuscripts to a professional English editing service prior to submission. If you use a service that provides a confirmation certificate, please send a copy to the Editorial Office. Authors from developing countries should consider registration with AuthorAid, a global research community that provides networking, mentoring, resources and training for researchers in developing countries.

This illustrates an important point about scholarly publishing when viewed as a service rather than as a good for sale: there is an inverse relationship between quality and the amount of work involved, i.e. the higher the quality, the less the work that is needed. This is because publishers do not pay for the largest portion of the work, conducting the research and writing the article. A well-researched and well-written article is less work for a journal at every step, as high quality articles make for easier editorial and peer review decisions as well as less work at the copyediting stage.

This approach provides an incentive for authors to submit articles in much better shape along with clear instructions about what that means, and also points to assistance for authors from developing countries.

One suggestion that fits with this approach is that it may be more effective to shift much of the support work of formatting and copyediting from publishers to the author’s institution. This way, institutions could hire local assistants and pay at rates appropriate for their own country and in their own currency, as well as creating local jobs, perhaps jobs for their own graduates in the case of universities.

For authors and copyeditors, there are advantages to working together over multiple projects. The copyeditor then has an opportunity to learn the terminology and approach preferred by the author, lessening the workload for both parties, as well as an opportunity to observe the growth of the author and research project over time. Perhaps a staff person in this position can help researchers with similar administrative tasks such as filing paperwork for grant proposals. This would free up the time of researchers to focus more on research. Where would the money come from? My suggestion is that in the process of transition to OA, we should not be looking to or funding publishers for services such as copyediting and formatting.

Of the 124 journals listed on the MDPI website, 124 or 85% offer english language editing services, generally at 250 CHF.

As a methodological note: while MDPI listed 124 journals, as of May 15, 2014 DOAJ listed 48 titles for MDPI. Correction August 5, 2014: note that DOAJ lists 104 journals for MDPI; the 48 titles are ones for which there are APCs. Many MDPI journals do not charge APCs, so the discrepancy is much less than I had thought.

I am finding that these large variations in title lists between websites of publishers relying on OA APCs and DOAJ are quite common. Simply collating these lists is proving to be a fair bit more challenging than anticipated.

Cite as:

Morrison, H. (2014). OA APC variation: English language editing. Sustaining the Knowledge Commons / Soutenir Les Savoirs Communs. Retrieved from https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2014/08/05/oa-apc-variation-english-language-editing/