Open Access costs @SpringerOpen
I received this invitation from the Springer Open Access journal of Interaction Science and the following grabbed my attention;
To enable the journal to make all of its content open access, Journal of Interaction Science levies an article-processing charge (APC) for each manuscript accepted after peer review.
I wondered, what does it cost then per manuscript? In their clear FAQ, it is stated clearly: 600 euros. And why does it cost so much? Not to pay the reviewers, because reviewing is just part of the job, researchers review for free. These fees pay for the following:
Article-processing charges pay for:
- Immediate, worldwide open access to the full article text
- Developing and maintaining electronic tools for peer review and publication
- Preparation in various formats for online publication
- Securing inclusion in CrossRef, enabling electronic citation in other journals that are available electronically
I wonder if they could justify these charges more explicitly, because 600 does not make sense if it really concerns the above costs (1/3/4 are almost nihil).
