European Union backs open access of research findings

Re:European Union backs open access of research findings by zerostar07 on Tuesday July 17, 2012 @11:41AM (#4256178)

I think that's what PLoS does. Their costs are here: http://www.plos.org/publish/pricing-policy/publication-fees/

Their costs aren't low, and presumably they don't make profit either. It's fair though, although i might say a bit expensive for authors from developing countries. You want to have a barrier in publishing and a good review process, and it's more fair (esp. to students in the developing world) to charge the authors rather than the readers.

Hopefully, if we have competition among open-access journals even the costs may go down.

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Re:European Union backs open access of research findings by Someone on Tuesday July 17, 2012 @05:31PM (#4258016)

I cannot find 2011 data, but over 2010 their net surplus was $2.8M, $2M from donations and $0.8M from operations (http://www.plos.org/media/downloads/2011/Form990_2010.pdf)

I use 'surplus', not 'profit' because PLoS is a non-profit. They can build up reserves to guarantee continued existence in times of hardness, or for future growth (for example, they may need money in the bank to rent or buy offices, or to make them more attractive to prospective employees (who is going to work for a non-profit that, every month, hopes to be able to pay your salary?)

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