Bjork (2012)
Contents
Source Details
Bjork (2012) | |
Title: | The Hybrid Model for Open Access Publication of Scholarly Articles – a Failed Experiment? |
Author(s): | Björk, B. |
Year: | 2012 |
Citation: | Björk, B.C., The Hybrid Model for Open Access Publication of Scholarly Articles–a Failed Experiment?. |
Link(s): | Definitive , Open Access |
Key Related Studies: | |
Discipline: | |
Linked by: |
About the Data | |
Data Description: | The study uses data from 15 publishers of hybrid journals. It covers two periods: the first in 2009 when a previous study found 2017 journals and 8095 articles available as hybrid publications, and a second period in 2011-12 which found 4381 journals and 12089 articles. |
Data Type: | Primary data |
Secondary Data Sources: | |
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Data Analysis Methods: | |
Industry(ies): | |
Country(ies): | |
Cross Country Study?: | No |
Comparative Study?: | No |
Literature review?: | No |
Government or policy study?: | No |
Time Period(s) of Collection: |
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Abstract
"Since 2004, mainstream scholarly publishers have beenoffering authors publishing in their subscription jour-nals the option to free their individual articles fromaccess barriers against a payment (hybrid OA). This hasbeen marketed as a possible gradual transition pathbetween subscription and open access to the scholarlyjournal literature, and the publishers have pledged todecrease their subscription prices in proportion to theuptake of the hybrid option. The number of hybrid jour-nals has doubled in the past couple of years and is nowover 4,300; the number of such articles was around12,000 in 2011. On average only 1–2% of eligible authorsutilize the OA option, due mainly to the generally highprice level of typically 3,000 USD. There are, however, afew publishers and individual journals with a muchhigher uptake. This article takes a closer look at thedevelopment of hybrid OA and discusses, from anauthor-centric viewpoint, the possible reasons for thelack of success of this business model."
Main Results of the Study
- Prospects for growth via addition of new titles in the near future appear to be low. Indeed, big publishers, university presses and society publishers have already offered a majority of their titles under hybrid OA.
- Hybrid OA in the case of the major publishers and with current price level has failed to adding volumes of OA articles. Thus, a way to speedily increase the uptake of OA would be to drastically reduce the price level. However, this might put the subscription income at risk.
- The author observes a trend where many established publishers start new full OA journals, specifically journals with reasonable article processing charges (APCs) and very broad disciplinary coverage.
- The author concludes that in the scholarly publishing landscape, hybrid OA will continue to be a very marginal phenomenon.
Policy Implications as Stated By Author
The study does not make any explicit policy recommendations.
Coverage of Study
Datasets
Sample size: | 15 |
Level of aggregation: | Publishers |
Period of material under study: | 2009 to 2012 |
Sample size: | 2017 |
Level of aggregation: | Journals |
Period of material under study: | 2009 |
Sample size: | 4381 |
Level of aggregation: | Journals |
Period of material under study: | 2012 |
Sample size: | 8095 |
Level of aggregation: | Articles |
Period of material under study: | 2009 |
Sample size: | 12089 |
Level of aggregation: | Articles |
Period of material under study: | 2012 |