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Sparc Explores Income Models For Supporting Open Access Journals

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SPARC Explores
Income Models
for Supporting
Open-Access Journals
Jennifer McLennan, Director of Communications, SPARC
Developing a sustainable business model is a critical concern for all
publishers. For open-access publishers, who commit to free and
open downstream access and reuse of their published material, the
question of sustainability is a particularly challenging one. To increase
awareness of different approaches that are available to publishers, SPARC (the
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) has released a report
that provides an overview of income models currently used to sustain open-
access journals. Raym Crow, SPARC Senior Consultant, is the author of the
report.
Many discussions of open-access journal income models focus on article
processing fees. However, as the guide documents, such fees are not
appropriate for every journal or every publisher. The needs of individual
journals differ, and a variety of income models can be used to support broad
open-access distribution. The right model for any given publisher will take
into account not only their need to cover expenses, but also the organization’s
“mission objectives, size, business management resources, risk tolerance, tax
status, and institutional or corporate affiliation.”
As Crow writes in the guide’s introduction:
An income model does not need to reform the entire system of
scholarly publication to be worthwhile to a specific journal. In
the absence of a comprehensive, systemic change in the manner
in which peer-reviewed journals are funded, publishers will
continue to apply a variety of income models to support open-
access distribution. In this context, an income model should be
judged on its effectiveness to support any given journal—or to
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support a specific class of journals—rather than on its universal
applicability to support journals across all disciplines and markets.
With the new guide, Income models for Open Access: An overview of current
practice, SPARC aims to support the development of sound open-access
publishing business models by providing an overview of current practice,
as well as concrete guidance for publishers in evaluating the viability and
financial potential of available revenue streams.
The guide presents supply-side models, which are “funded primarily by
producers of the content or by proxies that pay on their behalf,” and demand-
side models, which are “funded primarily by consumers of the content or by
proxies that pay on their behalf.” Supply-side models described include: Article
Processing Fees, Advertising, Sponsorships, Internal Subsidies, External
Subsidies, Donations & Fundraising, Endowments, In-Kind Support, and
Partnerships. Demand-side models include: Use-Triggered Fees, Convenience-
Format License, Value Added Fee-Based Services, and Contextual E-Commerce.
To increase the value of the survey, readers are invited to describe other options
through the guide’s complementary Web site.
The guide details how each model works, the rationale behind it, its
prevalence and suitability, and examples of publishers using the model. For
selected models, additional detail is provided to help publishers assess the
financial viability of the approach and to mitigate the risk of a transition.
Income models for Open Access: An overview of current practice is intended for
publishers that aim to launch an open-access journal or convert an existing
journal to open-access distribution. Such publishers include “independent,
single-title operations, operated by a founding editor with volunteer support;
society publishers of all sizes, including single- and multiple-title publishing
programs; and conventional publishers, both commercial and nonprofit.”
The guide will also be valuable to libraries evaluating potential investments
in open-access publications against meager library funds.
“There’s not a single solution to creating the income stream necessary to
support open-access publication that works for every publisher,” said Heather
Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC. “Through this experimental phase, it’s
important to be both flexible and pragmatic in the evaluation of new models.”
SPARC supports publishing models and policy initiatives that broaden access
to the peer-reviewed results of research, including Open Access—free,
immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research. SPARC’s charge,
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About Business Models
Value Proposition
Value Proposition for Authors (e.g., impact)
Value Proposition for End Users (e.g., quality)
Value Proposition for Libraries (end user demand)
Value Proposition for Funders (e.g., mission alignment)
Create
Value Proposition for Sponsors (e.g., target audience)
Deliver
Value
Client Segment
Cost Structure
Authors
Publishing Activities
End Users
Income Model Support Activities
Libraries/Proxies
Partnerships/Alliances
Funders
Advertisers/Sponsors
Fund
Income Streams
Pay
Article Processing Fees
Choose/Use
Subsidies & Grants
Submit Content
Advertising/Sponsorship Revenue
Fund
Use-Triggered Voluntary Fees
Value-added Services
A business model describes the economic logic that sustains an enterprise. For the publisher of a peer-reviewed
journal, it describes the journal's audiences, the unique value that the journal delivers to each of those audiences, the
activities and resources required to create and deliver that value, and the market mechanisms by which the journal
translates the value it delivers into income to sustain itself. See accompanying diagram of business model logic.
—excerpted from Income Models for Open Access: An Overview of Current Practice
since its inception, is to foster a more open system for the exchange of
scholarly research results—a system that advances scholarship, leverages the
opportunities presented by digital publishing technologies and ubiquitous
networking, and reduces the financial pressures on libraries. Recognizing that
changes to the traditional model of disseminating research have significant
financial implications, especially for societies and other nonprofit publishers,
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SPARC commissioned this guide and encourages community discussion on
the income models described as well as contributions related to new and
other models.
Income models for Open Access: An overview of current practice is available for free to read or download
online. The guide is supplemented by an extensive Web resource, which invites community discussion
on models described as well as contributions related to new and other models. The resource is online at
http://www.arl.org/sparc/publisher/incomemodels/.
To cite this article: Jennifer McLennan, “SPARC Explores Income Models for
Supporting Open-Access Journals.” Research Library Issues: A Bimonthly Report
from ARL, CNI, and SPARC, no. 266 (October 2009): 13–16.
http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/rli/archive/rli266.shtml.
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