10 years of Open Access at BioMed Central

Matthew CockerillManaging Director, BioMed Central

Technology changes business models

What is fundamentally different about the Open Access publishing

business model?

Traditional research publishing

The research community transfers the rights to the research to the publisher

The publisher covers costs by selling access to the content

Open Access research publishing

No barriers to access No exclusive rights Publisher receives payment for

the service of publication

About BioMed Central

Largest publisher of peer-reviewed open access journals

Launched first open access journal in 2000 Now publishes 199 OA titles >50,000 peer-reviewed OA articles published All research articles published under Creative

Commons licence Costs covered by 'article processing charge'

(APC)

Three key types of journal

BMC-series (~60 titles)– Largely in-house editorial process– Systematic coverage of all areas of biology and medicine– Aims to publish all scientifically sound research– BMC Biology and BMC Medicine highlight top research– BMC Research Notes publishes incremental results, datasets etc.

Independent journals (~135 titles)– External Editors-in-Chief – External editorial process (with option of in-house support)– Some are broad, some focus on a specific niche– Often society-affiliated

Hybrid journals (~6 titles)– In-house editorial process– Commissioned content available to subscribers– All research open access

BioMed Central revenue streams

Publication fees– From authors– From meeting organizers– From sponsoring organizations

Subscription content (e.g. reviews) Services (e.g. Open Repository) Advertising / sponsorship

OA Publication Fees

Putting Open Access fees into perspective

Top-down and bottom-up analyses come to similar conclusionAverage publisher revenue per STM article, under the traditional subscription-based model, is around £3000 ($4700)

What do OA publication fees cover?

Open access publishing has most of the same costs as the traditional system:– Editorial– Technical– Production– Customer services– Marketing (e.g. conference attendance)

OA publication fees ($US)

BioMed Central $915-$2265 Public Library of Science $1300-$2850 Company of Biologists $2560 Oxford University Press $3000 Royal Society $2550-$4420 Springer $3000 Taylor & Francis $3250 Wiley $3000

How do OA publication fees get paid?

Authors may pay out of grant funds Some funders provide dedicated funds

for open access publishing costs Institutions may cover costs centrally

(via open access funds and/or membership arrangements with OA publishers)

Some journals are run by organizations which cover costs themselves

BioMed Central membership

Prepay membership– Institution pays funds into a deposit account– Article Processing Charge is covered by funds from

account– Discount depending on deposit amount– Author does not have to pay– Simplified administration/reporting

Supporter membership– Institutions pay a flat fee– Authors pay a discounted Article Processing Charge

How are BioMed Central articles paid for?

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Jan-

05

Mar

-05

May

-05

Jul-0

5

Sep

-05

Nov

-05

Jan-

06

Mar

-06

May

-06

Jul-0

6

Sep

-06

Nov

-06

Jan-

07

Mar

-07

May

-07

Jul-0

7

Sep

-07

Nov

-07

Jan-

08

Mar

-08

May

-08

Jul-0

8

Sep

-08

Nov

-08

Jan-

09

Mar

-09

May

-09

Discretionary waivers

Low income country waiver

Promotional waiver

Full/prepay member

Individual APC (supporter)

Individual APC (standard)

Not all publication fees come from authors

Author’s pay publication fee for research articles

DFG funding covers cost of additional articles

Some BioMed Central journals with no author fees

Chinese MedicineChiropractic & OsteopathyItalian Journal of PediatricsJournal of Biomedical ScienceJournal of Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve InjuryJournal of Orthopaedic Surgery and ResearchJournal of the International AIDS SocietyScandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency MedicineSports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation, Therapy & Technology

Making peer review more efficient

Peer review cascade

Highrejection rate

Moderaterejection rate

Lowrejection rate

Advantages of peer review cascade

Avoids delays for authors Avoids saddling academics with

repeated peer review of less interesting papers

Separates question of soundness of research from level of interest– Soundness determines whether to publish– Interest determines where to publish

Increasingly widespread model

PLoS Nature Cell Neuroscience Peer

Review Consortium

BioMed Central journal’s with additional subscription content

And soon…

Examples of additional services

A hosted digital repository solution

Integration ensures articles published in OA journals can easily be included

Advertising

Common question from would-be journal editors: “Can we support a journal entirely with advertising?”

Unlikely - advertising is small fraction of revenue for BioMed Central journals

Institutions, funders and open access

Mandatory OA-deposit policies from research funders E.g. NIH, HHMI, UK PMC funder group

Institutional OA-deposit mandates E.g. Harvard, MIT, UCL

Central institutional open access fundsE.g. Nottingham, Newcastle, Calgary, Berkeley

Growth of BioMed Central

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

Apr-0

0

Oct-0

0

Apr-0

1

Oct-0

1

Apr-0

2

Oct-0

2

Apr-0

3

Oct-0

3

Apr-0

4

Oct-0

4

Apr-0

5

Oct-0

5

Apr-0

6

Oct-0

6

Apr-0

7

Oct-0

7

Apr-0

8

Oct-0

8

Science Now

Genome Biology

Independent Journals

BMC Research Notes

BMC series

Growth in quarterly manuscipt submissions

Which have been Biomed Central’s most rapidly growing journals

BMC Genomics

0100200300400500600700800900

1000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

BMC Developmental Biology

0

50

100

150

200

250

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Genome Biology

0

200

400

600

800

1000

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

BMC Evolutionary Biology

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Malaria Journal

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

What do these journals have in common?

Official Impact Factors

BioMed Central journals with official Thomson Reuters/ISI impact factors

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

No. of journals with

Impact Factor

‘New journals’ vs ‘Transfer journals’

BioMed Central proved the OA model with new journal launches

The success of the model has led to more and more journal transfers

Open Access publishing,then and now…

20092000

And more…

A new industry association

Goals of OASPA

Represents Open Access publishers Agree common definition of Open Access Establish and enforce good standards of

editorial and business practices amongst members

Identify guidelines and best practices for publishers and institutions in managing payment of publication fees

Springer’s acquisition of BioMed Central

+

Springer acquisition FAQs

Will BioMed Central’s policy of open access to all research continue?Yes – this was an obligatory condition for the deal to gain approval by BioMed Central’s Board of Trustees

Is BioMed Central profitable?Springer bought BioMed Central because it is a healthy publishing business, in a growing sector of the market

Will BioMed Central APCs be increased to Springer Open Choice levels?There are no plans to change BioMed Central’s APC pricing policy as a result of the deal

What does the acquisition mean for BioMed Central?

BioMed Central remains an autonomous operating unit within Springer

Springer’s global infrastructure and market presence is helping BioMed Central to expand its activities

Springer has a wealth of experience in society publishing

As part of Springer, BioMed Central is ideally placed to publish open access society journals