Open Access Cuts Cost 30%, Says UK-Based Study

-- Library Journal, 5/12/2004

The Wellcome Trust, a United Kingdom-based biomedical research charity, has assessed the possible cost implications of adopting the open access publishing model and concluded that it could eliminate as much as 30 percent of publishing costs. It specifies that an average $1,972 payment made by the author for peer-reviewed research to be made available online for free could be a sustainable publishing model. This compares with the average $2,689 price to publish under the traditional system, in which publishers assume the copyright and charge subscription fees.

Wellcome Trust Director Mark Walport remarked, "'The evidence presented here appears to contradict a lot of the figures quoted by commercial publishers.... Now we can get rid of the ludicrous situation where the scientific community has to pay to look at the results of their own research." He continued, "It's time for serious discussion, particularly with the learned societies who, as the report makes clear, should have nothing to fear from a new publishing model."