Introduction ��� Openaccess��� isanewmovementin scholarlypublishing.Openaccessjour- nalsprovidefreeaccesstosomeorall oftheirresearcharticles.Inadditiontoopen accessjournals,thereareopenaccess archivesandrepositories.Althoughopen accesspublishingmodelsappeartohave emergedovernight,momentumhasbeen buildingforthelasttenyears,sincetheearly 1990swhenthefirstarticlepreprintservers cameintoexistenceandacademicauthors beganamovetoretaincopyright.Because advocatesofopenaccesspublishingcome fromboththeconsumingandthesupply sideofscholarlypublishing��� authors, readers,scholarsandlibrarians��� whowant tochangethestatusquo,itisvitalfor traditionalpublisherstopayattentiontothe messagestheirmarketsaresending.This articleexaminesthenascenceoftheopen accessmovement,thekeydriverspushing foropenaccess,andnewstrategiesfor scholarlypublisherstoconsiderinsatisfying theirreaders��� andbuyers���demands. Background Before1945,nearlyalljournalsinthe UnitedStateswerepublishedbyprofessional societies.ThisdiffersfromEuropewhere earlyonjournalswerepublishedbycom- mercialpublishers.SinceWorldWarII, scholarlyjournalspublishingandelectronic publishinghavebeenevolvingintandem. Themodernscholarlyjournalemergedas fundingincreasedforscientificresearchin supportoftheUS��� spacerace��� andthe ColdWar(TenopirandKing,2000).Jour- nalsproliferatedandbecameincreasingly specialized.Manynewjournalswerestarted bycommercialpublishers.In1995there wereanestimated6,771scientificjournals intheUnitedStates,includingpsychology andsocialsciencepublications(Tenopir andKing,2000).Onerecentestimateof Open access publishing models: opportunityor threattoscholarly andacademic publishers? ChristineLamb Consultant,PublishingandMarketStrategies �� ChristineLamb2004 ABSTRACT:Variousmodelsofopenaccess publishingandnewinitiativesarereviewedthrough thepublishedliteraturewithrecommended strategiesfortraditionaljournalpublishers. LearnedPublishing (2004)17, 143���150 ChristineLamb Openaccesspublishingmodels:opportunityorthreattoscholarlyandacademicpublishers? 143 LEARNEDPUBLISHINGVOL.17NO.2APRIL2004

scholarlyjournalsworldwideis70,000��� 80,000(MeadowsandSingletoncitedin TenopirandKing,2000).Otherestimates are23,500journals(Harnad,2003)and 15,000peer-reviewedjournals(Jongejan, 2003).Commercialpublisherspublish40% ofalljournalsintheUStoday(Tenopirand King,1997).Incontrast,theDirectoryof OpenAccessJournals(http://www.doaj.org) lists697titles. Theincreaseinthenumberofscientists workinginthelasthalfofthetwentieth century,andtheparallelincreaseinspecial- izedoutputfromthesescientistshave contributedtotheproliferationofjournals andtheneedforfindingandfilteringindexes. Twosecondarypublishersinparticular,have beenselectiveinthejournalstheyaccepted forindexing:IndexMedicusorMedline covers4,600titlesandtheScienceCitation IndexandCurrentContentspublishedby theInstituteofScientificInformation indexes5,900titles.Thejournalsinthese indexeshavebecomea��� core��� ofthemost highlyrankedandcitedpublicationsintheir fields.Somescholars,whocompeteto publishtheirarticlesinthemostvisible journals,perceivethatpublishershave capitalizedontheserankingsandtaken profitsattheexpenseofpubliclyfunded researchbychargingoverlyhighpricesfor journalssubscriptions,which,inturn, restrictsaccesstoonlythoseuniversities thatcanaffordtopay.Universitiesoften requirepublicationincorejournalsfor promotionandtenure,insomeinstances withlessregardforthecontentormeritof thescienceinthearticle(Guedon,2003). Supportforopenaccesspublishingmodels thatallowfreeaccesstoresearchistiedto creatingafairerpeer-reviewprocessthat valuestheresearchinitselfinsteadofwhere itispublished. Electronicjournalspublishing Beforethe1990smostelectronicscholarly publishingwasintheformofbibliographic databasesorfindingdevicesthatpointedto printissuesoffull-textarticlesonlibrary shelves.Intheearly1990sdocument deliveryservicesweredevelopedusingfree, searchablecitationandtablesofcontents databasesontheInternettolocatefull-text printarticlesthatwerecopiedandfaxedto therecipientforafee.Inthemid-1990s,the standardsfortheWorldWideWebwere releasedandelectronicfull-textjournals becamepossible.Itisinthecontextofthe fullpromiseofelectronicjournalsthatopen accesshasemergedasanewpublishing model. Theimpetusforopenaccessvariesby disciplinebutarosefirstinthesciences.It beganinphysics,mathsandcomputer sciencewiththecreationofanopenarchive ofprepublicationpapers(preprints)in1991 byPaulGinspargatLosAlamos,andinlife scienceswithitsurgentmissioninthe1980s toidentifytheoriginsandcurefortheAIDS virusandlaterinthe1990swiththehuman genomeproject.In1997,Medlinebecame freeontheInternet,andin1999,therepos- itoryPubMedCentralwaslaunched.The openaccessmovementisstilllimitedto smallgroupsofproselytizershelpedrecently bythehugeworldwidepublicrelationscam- paignaroundthelaunchofPloS.Themost vocaladvocatesofopenaccessareactivist academicswithtenureinscience,some leadersintheresearchlibrarycommunity, scientificcommunitiesoutsidetheUnited Statesandinthedevelopingworldcountries suchasBrazilandIndia(bothcountries havegoodInternetinfrastructureandlarge populationsofscientists).Byandlarge, though,theaverageacademicfacultymember isunfamiliarwithopenaccessconcepts (Suber,privatecommunication,2003).For openaccesstoreallytakeoffitneedsto catchfirewithyoung,Internet-savvyschol- arswhodonotyethavetenure,forwhom electronicpublishingandinformationare secondnature.Openaccess��� sfuturelieswith thenextgeneration. Asoftoday,thereareonlyahandful oftrulyopenaccesspublishers,BioMed Central(http://www.biomedcentral.com),a commercialenterprisebasedintheUKand PublicLibraryofScience(www.plos.org), foundedbyNobel-laureateHaroldVarmus inSanFrancisco,Californiabeingthemost ambitious. Definitionsofopenaccess Definingopenaccessisaworkinprogress withdifferentinterpretationsdependenton universities oftenrequire publicationin corejournals forpromotion and tenure 144 C. Lamb LEARNEDPUBLISHINGVOL.17NO.2APRIL2004