Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The unique characteristics of academic journals (as discussed in Section
3.3
)intro-
duce added complexities to the cost and fee structures of the scholarly publishing
industry. Early research on the topic concentrated on the cost/benefit to publishers.
More recent research also considers the cost to the reader. From the perspective of
the publisher, the economics of e-journals can be divided into the cost to publish and
the revenue from fees and charges.
5 . 1
C o s t S t r u c t u r e
The production cycle of an academic journal involves six steps (see
Fig. 2
):
Step 1. Manuscript creation.
Step 2. Submission.
Step 3. Refereeing.
Step 4. Editing.
Step 5. Production.
Step 6. Distribution.
Universities and other research institutions absorb the costs of step 1 and most of
steps 2 and 3 regardless of the medium used to distribute the material. The costs of the
first step are the same for both e-journals and p-journals. The costs of submission and
refereeing are reduced for both p-journals and e-journals when (as is now common)
electronic communication technology is used.
Once published in a p-journal, a paper cannot be altered. The best that can be done
is to print an erratum or two in a subsequent issue. An electronic paper is not as final.
If a typographical error is found, the text can be corrected and reposted. The finality
of paper articles increase the need for very thorough proofreading function that is
often done by professionals just as is done for topics. Authors usually are asked for a
final proof because the text may contain technical and specialized terms with which
the proofreader is not acquainted. In e-journals, professional proofreaders are often
not used, reducing the cost of step 4.
The publisher's main cost reduction for a replacement or advanced e-journal is in
steps 5 and 6: the production and distribution functions. In production, typesetting is
replaced by word processing. The cost reduction depends on the format used by the
journal. For example, some e-journals post manuscript in HTML or in .pdf formats.
These formats require some conversion efforts. The creation of a .pdf file from a word
document can be automated. However, some features need to be edited manually.
The conversion of a word processing file to HTML requires more manual work.
This portion of the production function requires new skills and processes and is not
completely eliminated. For example, Regier
[46]
estimated that the cost of the skills
