APPENDIX 21
Memorandum from Nature Publishing Group
Nature Publishing Group is an independent journal
publisher, part of Macmillan. We have been invited to attend the
House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee's inquiry into
scientific publications, but have decided not to submit a formal
statement to the committee, as we have contributed to submissions
from the PA and the STM. We agree that subscription-based pricing
of scientific journals protects the integrity and neutrality of
the selection process in the dissemination of research articles.
However, we would like to emphasise one point relating to high-impact
research journals, such as Nature, in the current debate
about subscription prices and "author pays" business
models.
Nature receives many more submissions
than it publishes; after careful consideration and expert peer
review, it publishes fewer than 10% of the research articles submitted.
Economics dictates that high-quality journals like Nature
have a high unit cost per paper published, because for every article
published more than ten have been reviewed and deselected. Reviewing
and filtering such a large number of articles is expensive, and
yet Nature remains one of the most inexpensive journals
in the market. In fact, the cost of Nature in real terms
is half of what it was when it was launched by Thomas Huxley 135
years ago; a library with several thousand users can enjoy electronic
access to 51 issues per year at a price that is less than the
publication fee of two research articles in most "author
pays" journals. This is because the cost of publication is
supported by Nature's several million readers, tens of
thousands of subscribers and a significant number of advertising
clients. If the "author pays" model were imposed on
a journal like Nature, these costs would have to be borne
by the relatively few authors whose papers are published after
our rigorous selection and peer review processes.
Under an author pays model, we estimate the
actual cost per paper published would be in the region of £10-30,000
depending on the impact of lost advertising. Such an amount would
be hardly affordable to most research scientists, and so journals
such as Nature would be forced to reduce editorial criteria,
and publish more, lower quality papers, and/or favour wealthy
authors that were in a position to afford such a fee. The publication
process would be in danger of being driven by economic considerations
rather than academic principles. The "author pays" model
potentially undermines the integrity of the world's highest quality
journals, with unwelcome consequences for the scientific community,
and for the wider public.
We believe that competition in the market place
delivers efficiencies and drives down costs. Nature Publishing
Group has always embraced and will continue to welcome new business
models and publishing opportunities. However, we strongly believe
that fair subscription pricing maintains the integrity and independence
of the publication process, and that a mandatory shift towards
"authors pays" models would seriously damage high-quality
journals.
February 2004
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