Journal publishing models

The reason why more publishers don’t offer diamond open access is because the different journals have different business models. Each journal will have a publisher, who plays a varying role in the operation and management of the journal. Publishers can be involved in editorial support, production and typesetting, distribution and access, marketing and promotion, financial management, copyright and licensing, and indexing and impact metrics.

Here are some of the different business models for academic journals:

• Subscription-based model: Under this model, readers pay a subscription fee to access the journal's content. This fee could be paid by individuals, institutions like universities, or both. The journal may also offer print and online subscription options.
• Open Access model: In this model, sometimes referred to by its acronym ‘OA’, the content of the journal is freely available to readers without requiring a subscription. Instead, the costs of publication are often covered by charging authors a fee, known as an ‘article processing charge’, or ‘APC’.
• Hybrid model: Journals employing this model offer a combination of both subscription-based and open access options. Some articles are freely available (open access), while others require a subscription to access. Authors may choose to pay APCs to make their articles open access within a hybrid journal.
• Society or Association-based model: Many journals are published by scholarly societies or professional associations. Depending on the society, the journal can either be a source of income for the society or association, or it can be financed by other sources of income.
• Advertising-supported model: In this model, journals generate revenue by selling advertising space within their publications. Advertisers pay to reach the journal's audience, typically researchers, academics, and professionals in a specific field.
• Pay-per-view model: Some journals offer individual articles for purchase on a pay-per-view basis. Readers can access specific articles by paying a fee for each article they wish to view, rather than subscribing to the entire journal.

What help is available for authors when publishing in journals with an APC?

Sometimes, institutions and/or research funders are willing to pay the APCs for authors to publish Open Access. Some institutions even have ‘Transitional Agreements’ with publishers to cover these APCs. Similarly, the UKRI block grant provides funding for eligible authors to meet publishing costs. Many journals also offer ‘APC waivers’ for eligible authors who are unable to pay. For authors seeking further assistance, exploring their institutional guidance or speaking directly with library staff can help identify other potential funding opportunities tailored to their specific needs.

The Big Five

Many journals have a large publisher, e.g. Elsevier, Sage, Springer Nature, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley – the ‘big five’. These publishers are for-profit, meaning that they make a large amount of money from researchers (through APCs), universities (through subscriptions), or readers (through subscriptions and pay-per-view). For example, it has been estimated that the research community paid over $1.06 billion in open access fees alone to the big five publishers between 2015 and 2018.

Activity 1:

Allow about 10 minutes