Open access publishing would bring more cost-savings and benefits than toll publishing. Is it real? : Significance and problems of JISC report “Economic implications of alternative scholarly publishing models: Exploring the costs and benefits”

Abstract

In January 2009, Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) published the report “Economic implications of alternative scholarly publishing models: Exploring the costs and benefits” (“EI-ASPM”). It concluded that open access publishing including open access journals and institutional repositories would bring more cost-savings and benefits than traditional toll publishing model. This article introduced the background and summary of “EI-ASPM” and the discussions about it. In addition, values and limitations of “EI-ASPM” were discussed. While “EI-ASPM” brought the framework to estimate costs and benefits of publishing models, the results of the analyses in the report were based on many assumptions and it should not be used for advocacy purposes.