Open-Access Experiment From COB

The Company of Biologists announced that all three of its journals will offer a year-long experiment with open access starting in January 2004. COB is adopting what Peter Suber calls the Walker-Prosser model in which authors of accepted papers have the option to buy open access to them by paying the journal's expenses in conducting peer review and preparing the electronic editions. For some initial period, COB will even subsidize the processing fee. For authors who do not choose the immediate open-access option, COB still provides open access after a six-month embargo. According to Suber, the Walker-Prosser method offers a good way for journal publishers to learn the methods and economics of open-access publishing and make an informed decision about full-scale conversion.

Source: Peter Suber's Open Access News (Sept. 28, 2003)

Posted by Tom on October 02, 2003