navin.indd 323 Does Open Access Really Make Sense? A Closer Look at Chemistry, Economics, and Mathematics John C. Navin and Jay Starratt John C. Navin is Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, and Jay Starra� is Dean of Library and Information Services, at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; e-mail: jnavin@siue.edu and jstarra@siue.edu, respectively. This article briefly reviews concepts and models associated with open access publishing. It provides a set of data about the frequency of public funding support for research published in leading journals in the disci- plines of Chemistry, Economics, and Mathematics. Funding differences by discipline are highlighted. The authors’ intent is not to draw broad conclusions but simply to inform the wider discussion of open access. he increasing cost of scholarly publications, combined with the evolution of the Internet and the growing sophistica- tion of search engines, has encouraged a call for journals to move to an “open ac- cess” model. In the basic model for open access publication, content is provided free on the open Internet as a replacement for the current subscription model. Cur- rently, according to Van Orsdel and Born (2005), the publication and distribution costs of academic journals are primarily covered through subscription fees that range between a $799 and $2,868 aver- age cost per title for various scientific disciplines.1 Under the most common alternative open access model, the costs of publication are derived from publication fees received from authors. McCabe and Snyder (2004) report that many online journals such as PloS Biology charge fees as high as $1,500 per accepted article.2 Stern (2005) explores many of the alternative models of open access jour- nal pricing. BioMed Central charges no author fees to authors from member institutions. Authors from nonmember institutions pay an article processing fee of $500. He also discusses the option of differential pricing, in which schools would pay a graduated fee based on either level of access or the types of services they demand. This model ap- pears to be a midpoint between current subscription-based journals, where the entire costs are borne by the publisher and subscribing libraries, and open ac- cess, where the costs are borne by the authors.3 In addition to Stern, a number of studies have concentrated on the cost of both traditional paper journal publishing and electronic journals; see, for example, Willinski (2003),4 Bot, Burgemeester and Roes (1998),5 King and Tenopir (1998),6 Odlyzko (1997),7 Fisher (1997),8 Guthrie (1997),9 and Odlyzko (1994).10 While there are many models, the primary effect of moving to open access is that articles only previously available 324 College & Research Libraries July 2007 through subscription will now be avail- able to a larger audience through open Web access, and individuals would not be required to obtain (or have their institu- tions obtain) licenses for each journal they are interested in reviewing. Why move to open access? One argu- ment is that the movement to open access makes new research quickly available to a wider audience, thus increasing its impact. Harnad and Brody (2004) examine the impact of open access jour- nals by looking at the differing citation rates between the articles in a traditional journal that were also available through open access with those in the journal that were not available through such means. They report that, in the physics discipline between 1992 and 2001, the ratio of open access to non–open access citations was between 2.5:1 and 5.8:1. Harnad and Bro- dy also point out that open access allows a greater number of individuals access to journals that many libraries previously could not afford. The metric they report to measure this is the ratio of “reads” to citations in open access journals. They re- port that other researchers (Kurtz 2004, in particular) have found ratios of 12:1 and 17:1 for open access journals.11,12 A second argument for open access is that those who sponsor the research should have ownership of the results. In his article “Open Access in the Real World,” Rick Anderson asks an important question: if funding for academic research is provided publicly through government grants or through public universities, should the information pass immediately to the public domain—should it be read- ily available through open access?13 This is a complicated question since, even in government supported research, there are many costs involved in publication that are borne by the entities involved in the creation and dissemination of research. There are, for instance, the costs of pro- duction of the research (facilities, collect- TABLE 1 Journals Examined Name of Journal Years Frequency of Publishing Economics Journals Journal of Economic Perspectives 1999–2004 Quarterly Journal of Economic Literature 1999–2004 Quarterly Quarterly Journal of Economics 1999–2004 Quarterly Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1999–2004 Semi-Annually Journal of Political Economy 1999–2004 Every 2 Months Chemistry Journals Chemical Reviews 2000–2005 Monthly Accounts of Chemical Research 2000–2005 Monthly Journal of the American Chemical Society 2004–2005 Weekly Mathematics Journals Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 1999–2004 Quarterly Acta Mathematica Sinica 2000–2004 Monthly J. Amer. Math. Soc. 1999–2004 Quarterly Comm. Pure Applied Math. 1999–2004 Monthly Inventiones Mathematica 1999–2003 Monthly Does Open Access Really Make Sense? 325 ing and analyzing the data, and so on) and the costs of distribution (for example, assembling the journals and making them available to readers). Even if these costs are negligible, they must be paid by someone. Under the alternative mentioned above, those costs can be easily shi�ed to the authors of the article. This approach makes some sense, since the authors generally reap the most direct benefits of article creation in the form of career advancement (salaries, promotion, other funding opportunities, to name a few). Once the costs of distribution are re- moved from consideration, the remaining issue for the second justification for open access publishing is “who paid for the research”? This article takes a closer look at the sources of funding for published re- search in the three disciplines of Econom- ics, Mathematics, and Chemistry by ex- amining the source of funding for articles appearing in some of the top journals over the past two to five years.14 The research indicates that a majority of the funding in the areas of mathematics and chemistry is publicly provided and that there is less public support for the research published in economics journals. Table 1 lists the journals we examined and their field dates of publication and publication frequency. Table 2 shows that in the field of chemistry we examined 4,675 different articles. Out of those, approximately 3,600, or 59 percent, listed explicit sources of public funding for their research. Only 22 percent of the published articles listed private funding sources. In the field of economics we examined 1,072 articles between 1999 and 2004. Of those listing TABLE 2 Funding Count and Percentages by Journal and Area Total Articles % Funded Publicly % Funded Privately Chemistry Journals Chemical Reviews 857 58 19 Accounts of Chemical Research 585 73 23 Journal of the American Chemical Society 4,675 57 21 Total/Weighted Average 6,117 59% 22% Economics Journals Journal of Economic Perspectives 332 15 17 Journal of Economic Literature 109 21 18 Quarterly Journal of Economics 236 50 42 Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 78 14 14 Journal of Political Economy 317 40 33 Total/Weighted Average 1,072 31% 32% Mathematics Journals Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 259 14 4 Acta Mathematica Sinica 361 83 19 J. Amer. Math. Soc. 253 67 23 Comm. Pure Applied Math. 298 63 21 Inventiones Mathematica 369 58 21 Total/Weighted Average 1,540 59% 18% 326 College & Research Libraries July 2007 Notes 1. Lee C. Van Orsdel and Kathleen Born, “Choosing Sides: Periodical Price Survey 2005,” Library Journal 13, no. 7 (April 15, 2005): 43–48. Available online from www.libraryjournal.com/ article/CA516819.html. [Accessed 22 May 2005]. 2. Mark McCabe and Christopher M. Snyder, “The Economics of Open Access Journals,” Georgia Tech Working Paper, October 22, 2004. Available online from www.prism.gatech. edu/~mm284/OA.pdf. [Accessed 17 June 2005]. 3. David Stern, “Open Access or Differential Pricing for Journals: The Road Best Traveled?,” Online 29, no. 2 (March/April 2005). Available online from www.infotoday.com/online/mar05/stern. shtml. [Accessed 1 June 2006]. 4. John Willinsky, “Scholarly Associations and the Economic Viability of Open Access Pub- lishing,” Journal of Digital Information 4, no. 2 (Article No. 177, 2003-04-09). Available online from h�p://jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk/Articles/v04/i02/Willinsky/. [Accessed 1 June 2006]. 5. Marjolein Bot, Johan Bugemeester, and Hans Roes, “The Cost of Publishing an Electronic Journal: A general model and case study,” D-Lib Magazine, November 1998. Available online from www.dlib.org/dlib/november98/11roes.html. [Accessed 1 April 2006]. 6. Donald W. King and Carol Tenopir, “Economic Cost Models of Scientific Scholarly Jour- nals.” Working paper downloaded from www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/icsu/kingppr.htm. [Accessed 1 April 2006]. 7. Andrew Odlyzko, “The Economics of Electronic Journals,” The Journal of Electronic Publish- ing 4, no. 1 (September 1998). Available online from www.press.umich.edu/jep/04-01/odlyzko. html. [Accessed 1 April 2006]. 8. Janet H. Fisher, “Comparing Electronic Journals to Print Journals: Are There Savings?” Scholarly Communication and Technology: Conference Organized by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation at Emory University, April 24–25, 1997. Available online from www.arl.org/scomm/ scat/fisher.html. [Accessed 11 June 2006]. 9. Kevin Guthrie, “JSTOR: The Development of a Cost-Driven, Value-Based Pricing Model,” Scholarly Communication and Technology: Conference Organized by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation at Emory University, April 24–25, 1997. Available online from www.arl.org/scomm/ scat/fisher.html. [Accessed 1 April 2006]. 10. Andrew Odlyzyko, “Tragic Loss or Good Riddance? The Impending Demise of Traditional Scholarly Journals,” Journal of Universal Computer Science (October 1994). Available online from www.jucs.org/jucs_0_0/tragic_loss_or_good/Odlyzko_A.html. [Accessed 1 April 2006]. 11. Steven Harnad and Tim Brody, “Comparing the Impact of Open Access (OA) vs. Non-OA Articles in the Same Journals,” D-Lib Magazine 10, no. 6 (June 2004). Available online from www. dlib.org/dlib/june04/harnad/06harnad.html. [Accessed 1 August 2005]. 12. Michael J. Kurtz, “Restrictive Access Policies Cut Readership of Electronic Research Journal Articles by a Factor of Two,” Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. Available online from h�p://opcit.eprints.org/feb19oa/kurtz.pdf. [Accessed 30 January 2005]. 13. Rick Anderson, “Open Access in the Real World: Confronting Economic and Legal Reality,” external funding, the split was about even between public and private fund- ing—31 percent publicly funded and 32 percent privately funded. In the field of mathematics we examined 1,540 articles from five journals covering 1999–2004. Of those articles, 59 percent reported public funding, while only 18 percent reported private funding. Conclusion Again, we do not intend to draw broad conclusions from this investigation; the research was intended simply to provide a piece of data for the ongoing discus- sion. It is evident, however, that open access publishing is still establishing a clear identity and its models and meth- ods are diverse. Increased readership, faster dissemination, and more elaborate, data-filled articles are only a few of the reasons for the interest in the approach. The case made that publicly funded re- search needs to be fully accessible is, at least intuitively, one of the most satisfying arguments. Clearly there is considerable public funding supporting the research published in the journals we examined. Even in our lowest publicly supported field, economics, nearly one third of the published research articles acknowledged public funding. Does Open Access Really Make Sense? 327 College and Research Library News 65, no. 4 (April 2004): 206–208. Available online from www.ala. org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2004/april04/openaccess.htm. [Accessed 1 June 2006]. 14. The length of time varies based on the frequency of publication. For example, we use two years of data from the Journal of the American Chemical Society, which is published weekly (over 1,000 articles per year), and five years of data from the Journal of Political Economy, which is published bimonthly (about 300 articles per year) 15. Note that totals may exceed 100 percent, as some authors report multiple sources of fund- ing (both public and private). 177 milk street boston massachusetts 02109 t 617 423 0100 f 617 426 2274 w perrydean.com dickinson college library Designers for Libraries & Academic Institutions webster university libraryagnes scott college library perry dean rogers | partners architects New for 2007: Links to Project Muse full-text. Contact us at bibliography@mla.org. MLA International Bibliography The Authoritative Resource for Books and Articles on Literature, Language, Film, Linguistics, and Folklore InvaluableResource An Frequently Asked Questions What is the MLA International Bibliography? The MLA International Bibliography is a bibliography of journal articles, books, and dissertations. It is published by the Modern Language Association, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1883 and com- mitted to the study and teaching of language and literature. Who uses the MLA International Bibliography? The bibliography is the research tool for college and university scholars and students. Increasingly it serves high school students and teachers and people who like to read about literature. What material is included in the bibliography? Over 4,000 journals are regularly indexed for inclusion in the bibliography, as are books from over 1,000 publishers. Scholars from universities throughout the world contribute material in their areas of expertise. Where do indexing terms come from? The Modern Language Association has drawn on the work of scholars to compile a thesaurus of over 45,000 topical terms and 327,000 names that reflect the state of current research. New concepts are regularly added to the thesaurus. Who indexes the entries? Indexing is done by specialists with advanced degrees in literature, language, folklore, and linguistics. The bibliography’s New York indexing staff has a total of 183 years’ experience. What languages are indexed? While the majority of entries are in the English language, at least 60 other languages are represented in the index, including Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. The material indexed comes from all over the globe. Scope of the MLA International Bibliography: CSA 800 843-7751 www.csa.com EBSCO Information Services 800 653-2726 www.epnet.com Gale Group 800 877-GALE www.galegroup.com OCLC 800 848-5878, ext. 6251 www.oclc.org ProQuest 800 521-0600 www.proquest.com For information on the print edition, please contact: Modern Language Association 26 Broadway, 3rd floor New York, NY 10004-1789 646 576-5155 fax 646 576-5160 www.mla.org � Literature from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America � Folklore, including folk literature, music, art, rituals, and belief systems � Linguistics and language materials, including history, theory, and translation � Literary theory and criticism � History of printing and publishing � Dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater) � Teaching of literature, language, and rhetoric and composition The bibliography’s impressive database is an unparalleled research tool, offering electronic access to over 2 million citations from 1926 to the present and covering literature, language, fi lm, linguistics, and folklore. Citations to JSTOR's language and literature and Asian Studies collections, along with over 150 electronic journals and e-books, are included. For full-text linking capabilities, contact our online vendors. For information on the online version, please contact: New for 2007: Links to Project Muse full-text. Contact us at bibliography@mla.org. MLA International Bibliography The Authoritative Resource for Books and Articles on Literature, Language, Film, Linguistics, and Folklore InvaluableResource An Frequently Asked Questions What is the MLA International Bibliography? The MLA International Bibliography is a bibliography of journal articles, books, and dissertations. It is published by the Modern Language Association, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1883 and com- mitted to the study and teaching of language and literature. Who uses the MLA International Bibliography? The bibliography is the research tool for college and university scholars and students. Increasingly it serves high school students and teachers and people who like to read about literature. What material is included in the bibliography? Over 4,000 journals are regularly indexed for inclusion in the bibliography, as are books from over 1,000 publishers. Scholars from universities throughout the world contribute material in their areas of expertise. Where do indexing terms come from? The Modern Language Association has drawn on the work of scholars to compile a thesaurus of over 45,000 topical terms and 327,000 names that reflect the state of current research. New concepts are regularly added to the thesaurus. Who indexes the entries? Indexing is done by specialists with advanced degrees in literature, language, folklore, and linguistics. The bibliography’s New York indexing staff has a total of 183 years’ experience. What languages are indexed? While the majority of entries are in the English language, at least 60 other languages are represented in the index, including Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. The material indexed comes from all over the globe. Scope of the MLA International Bibliography: CSA 800 843-7751 www.csa.com EBSCO Information Services 800 653-2726 www.epnet.com Gale Group 800 877-GALE www.galegroup.com OCLC 800 848-5878, ext. 6251 www.oclc.org ProQuest 800 521-0600 www.proquest.com For information on the print edition, please contact: Modern Language Association 26 Broadway, 3rd floor New York, NY 10004-1789 646 576-5155 fax 646 576-5160 www.mla.org � Literature from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America � Folklore, including folk literature, music, art, rituals, and belief systems � Linguistics and language materials, including history, theory, and translation � Literary theory and criticism � History of printing and publishing � Dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater) � Teaching of literature, language, and rhetoric and composition The bibliography’s impressive database is an unparalleled research tool, offering electronic access to over 2 million citations from 1926 to the present and covering literature, language, fi lm, linguistics, and folklore. Citations to JSTOR's language and literature and Asian Studies collections, along with over 150 electronic journals and e-books, are included. For full-text linking capabilities, contact our online vendors. For information on the online version, please contact: