Sim
mon Inger Consullting
Workfl
W
ow Im
mplica
ations
s of O
Open A
Acces
ss
Publishing
A White
W
Pa
aper from
m Simo
on Ingerr Consu
ulting
www
w.simoniingerconsulting
g.com
This work
w
is lice
ensed under a Creattive Comm
mons AttriibutionNo
onCommercial-SharreAlike 4.0
0 Internattional License
Simon In
nger Consulting
g
INTRO
ODUCTION
N
The grradual trans
sition of journal publ ishing from
m subscripttion produc
cts to
open access,
a
whiich is more
e an authorr services m
model, brin
ngs with it some
necess
sary and so
ometimes unforeseen
u
n changes in editorial and produ
uction
workflo
ow. This brrief white paper
p
is asssembled frrom a rang
ge of such
change
es either ac
ctioned or envisioned
d by publishers for wh
hich SIC ha
as
consultted.
AP
PC COLLE
ECTION
The co
ollection of APCs is an
n entirely n
new functio
on to many
y publishers
s. At
the mo
oment, for many, volumes are llow and a m
mostly manual system
m for
payme
ent is suffic
cient. For some publisshers, such
h as those who still ch
harge
authorrs for page or colour charges,
c
th
here are mechanisms
s in place,
sometiimes with their
t
composition parrtners, for the taking of APCs.
Howev
ver, APCs are
a already becoming a more co
omplex enttity to hand
dle,
with many
m
publis
shers offering differen
ntial rates o
on APCs de
epending o
on the
authorr’s location,, an array of OA mem
mbership plans, and in many ca
ases
the need to bill someone otther than t he author, such as a funding ag
gency
t
authorr’s stead. A
Another com
mplication in Europe is the
or institution, in the
ation of VAT to any APCs, and t he issuing of proper V
VAT invoices so
applica
that prroperly reg
gistered enttities can rreclaim the
e tax in the
eir own cou
untry.
The ne
eed for the publisher to remain agile in thiis regard w
will be key, and
a number of serv
vice provide
ers have e merged to help in thiis complica
ated
ncy conversion servic
ces
matterr and provide proper audit, tax and curren
from th
he outset. Some of th
hese servicces are fully integrate
ed with ediitorial
software and hav
ve the pote
ential to sa ve conside
erably on sttaff time and
effort, as well as provide a better custtomer experience.
umes incre
ease, publis
shers will n
need to hav
ve highly s
streamlined
d APC
As volu
collection if it is not
n to beco
ome a majo
or part of tthe cost of providing a
pen access
s solution.
gold op
EDITORS
D
Many new
n
open access
a
title
es have mu
uch broader scopes th
han their
contem
mporary subscription journals, a
and to main
ntain a bro
oad range o
of
subject expertise
e amongst editors req
quires a ne
ew approac
ch to managing
s. For large
e-scale broad titles, a
an extensiv
ve array of appointed
editors
editors
s is a suitab
ble solution
n, but for b
broad yet ssmaller pub
blications, an
area under investigation is the set-up
p of a more
e dynamic e
editorial bo
oard.
Page 2
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Simon In
nger Consulting
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In such
h a model, the publis
sher needs tools to m
more rapidly
y select and
manag
ge editorial boards, su
uch as the ability for the editoriial software
e to
sugges
st an editorr and indee
ed subsequ
uently find reviewers in unfamiliar
areas.
CASCADING
A
Many publishers
p
have recen
ntly launch
hed new op
pen access journals w
with
the primary purp
pose of acce
epting som
me percenta
age of the articles
ed by a pub
blisher’s fla
agship title
es.
rejecte
Publish
hers have experiment
e
ted with a number off options to
o support tthis
cascad
de. One is to
t ask at th
he time of submission
n whether or not, in tthe
case of rejection,, the autho
or would acccept being
g cascaded to another
W
this offers
o
maximum autho
or convenience and s
speed, som
me
title. While
worry that authors will perc
ceive it mo
ore likely th
hat their pa
aper will be
e
destine
ed for the lower
l
impa
act title. Mo
ore accepta
able, perha
aps, is to
automate an invitation to cascade the
e article up
pon initial rrejection. A
An
c
include
e an embed
dded “yes o
or no” checkbox for tthe author to
email can
decide if they are
e willing for the articl e to be casscaded.
f the pub
blisher’s ba
ack-office iss the autom
matic
The critical part for
mission of the
t
article to its new destination
n journal, c
carrying with it
resubm
all the metadata and option
nally review
wer feedba
ack, so thatt the autho
or has
w tasks to perform,
p
and the pub
blisher has no complicated or
no new
convoluted series
s of tasks to
t perform . The revie
ewers will n
need to giv
ve
p
for their re
eviews to b
be cascaded too, and automatin
ng this
their permission
proces
ss significan
ntly expediites publica
ation. Som
me publishers are
additio
onally expe
erimenting with havin
ng overlapp
ping editoriial boards, so
that an
n editor cas
scading an article to another jo
ournal has tthe authority to
accept it in its ne
ew destinattion.
THE
H AUTHOR
R AS PRIMA
ARY CUSTOMER
In the world of open access
s, the prim ary client iis the author – more so
author serv
vice is partt of
than ever before. Good autthor experi ence and a
y to future submissio
ons, and th ere are ste
eps that pu
ublishers ca
an
the key
take in
n configurin
ng their editorial work
kflows whicch improve
e the autho
or
experie
ence witho
out compromising any
y aspect off peer revie
ew.
One pa
art of this is to make article sub
bmission ass easy as p
possible. Fo
or
some authors,
a
ga
athering all the necesssary inform
mation, especially ab
bout
their co-authors, can be extremely tim
me-consum
ming. Publis
shers have
e to
t
task and remove
e some of tthe pain as
ssociated w
with
work to simplify this
ke the repe
etitive task
ks like file s
submission
n
article submission, and mak
ve. Can the
e editorial system
s
be configured
d to capture minimal
intuitiv
Page 3
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Simon In
nger Consulting
g
information on in
nitial submiission and then more
e detailed information
n on
revision?
COPYRIGHT
O
The ch
hanging natture of cop
pyright in o
open accesss articles p
presents so
ome
intriguing workflo
ow challeng
ges. It is b
becoming in
ncreasingly
y expected that
c
statement is carried a
at the article level in PDFs
the appropriate copyright
ged within the XML. D
Document delivery an
and prroperly tagg
nd reprint
organiz
zations nee
ed to see in the XML the approp
priate copy
yright notic
ce, all
the bettter if the notice
n
for open
o
accesss articles iis in a stan
ndard form such
as a Crreative Com
mmons lice
ense. This will determ
mine the do
ocument
deliverry or reprin
nt fee. It will also det ermine wh
hat third pa
arties are
allowed
d to do witth each artticle, includ
ding long-te
erm archiv
val.
Authorrs are still somewhat
s
confused b
by the diffe
erences in the range of
about what their fund
Creativ
ve Commons licenses
s, and also confused a
ding
agency
y may have
e mandated. The abillity to prom
mpt authorrs at the tim
me of
article submission, and pres
sent the ap
ppropriate license linked to fund
ding
y policy, sh
hould prove
e advantag
geous.
agency
A recent problem
m to emerge is the rettrospective
e payment of open ac
ccess
fees, thus changiing the pro
when the a
ovisions of copyright w
article is already
main and po
otentially a
already in a national llibrary arch
hive.
in the public dom
t
copyrig
ght notice needs
n
to ch
hange in th
he PDF, and in the XM
ML,
Since the
does th
his change the versio
on of record
d, or create a new “e
edition” of tthe
article?
? In either case, publlishers nee
ed a new w
workflow to deal with these
retrosp
pective cha
anges, and reload the
e articles to
o their delivery platfo
orms
and their trading partners.
AP
PC COMPE
ETITION AN
ND COST COMPETITIO
ON
No one
e is certain yet as to what
w
exten
nt any sign
nificant cos
st competition
will exist for APCs. Will low
w APCs beccome synon
nymous witth poor quality
service
e or good value
v
for money?
m
Willl higher AP
PCs be the sign of goo
od
quality
y and exclu
usivity or po
oor cost co
ontrol? Prov
d Open Acc
cess
viding Gold
turns the
t
busines
ss of journa
al publishin
ng from a p
product bu
usiness into
oa
service
e business where the primary cu
ustomer iss the author. Many
businesses provid
de surplus value to th
heir clientss, a series o
of value-ad
dds
that arren’t perceived by cus
stomers ass having ass much value as they
y cost.
A comm
mon example of this is copyeditting, which
h while imp
proving pro
oducts
in the eye of the publisher, doesn’t se
eem to be perceived a
as adding a
all
m
value to the average autho
or. Some are considering makin
ng
that much
copyed
diting an au
uthor choic
ce at the ti me of subm
mission and branchin
ng the
workflo
ow appropriately post-acceptan
nce.
Page 4
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Simon In
nger Consulting
g
In SIC’s experien
nce, most publishers
p
spend similar amoun
nts per artic
cle on
script track
king and pe
eer review, delivery p
platform, an
nd editoria
al staff
manus
costs. The major difference
es are in th e levels an
nd cost of c
copyediting
g, and
the cos
sts incurred in compo
osition. Com
mplicated w
workflows,, author
proofin
ng arrangements, and
d embargo
oes on articcles to coin
ncide with p
press
covera
age seem to
o be some major con
ntributors tto high com
mposition c
costs.
Cost co
ontrol may
y ultimately
y lead to th
he need to simplify w
workflows.
Whatever the outtcome on APCs,
A
to m
maximize prrofits or surpluses, orr even
to stay
n top of the cost of e
y in busines
ss, publishers will ne ed to be on
every
elemen
nt of its wo
orkflow and
d fully unde
erstand the
e benefits and costs o
of
every addition
a
to
o it. In the old subscriiption world such add
ditions could be
paid fo
or from rais
sing prices or selling more prod
duct. That luxury is go
one.
In edittorial workfflow, an inc
creasing arrray of pub
blisher tools seems to
o
point the
t
way to more cost efficiencie
es through automated
d reminderrs,
referen
nce checkin
ng and che
ecks on dup
plicate submissions.
REMAINING
E
AGILE
It’s a brave
b
perso
on who claims to kno
ow the shap
pe of open access in five
years or
o even thrree. Open access
a
is sstill evolving and publlishers nee
ed to
remain
n agile in th
heir ability to change workflowss. Hand in hand with this
way off thinking is
s the need for system
ms that are
e quickly re
econfigurab
ble,
so thatt publisherrs can easily try and rretry new a
approaches
s to workflo
ow
withou
ut incurring
g high costs
s in their e xperimentation.
CONCLUSION
O
N
Publish
hers will ne
eed to remain highly adaptable as their bu
usinesses
transition to Gold
d Open Acc
cess. The p
provision off Gold Open Access
als publishing from a business m
model whe
ere subscrip
ption
transitions journa
a as impo
ortant as gaining the best autho
ors, to one
e where the
e
sales are
authorr is the dom
minant stak
keholder. P
Publishers w
who are ab
ble to offerr the
highest levels of author serrvice to ma
ake the autthor’s life e
easier, and
those who
w
adapt quickly, sh
hould be ab
ble to gain a competiitive advan
ntage.
Page 5
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Simon In
nger Consulting
g
ABOUT
B
SIMO
ON INGER CONSULTIN
NG
Simon Inger Consulting is a long-esta
ablished co
onsultancy service to
hers, librarries, techno
ology proviiders and intermediarries in the
publish
scholarly publishing arena. Simon Ing
ger has bee
en involved
d in scholarrly
publish
hing for over twenty-five years and has be
een a cons
sultant sinc
ce
2002.
ed in the su
ubscription
n agency w orld; has b
been closely
Simon has worke
ed in library technology solution
ns and stan
ndards-making; was a coinvolve
founde
er and man
naging director of CattchWord, th
he first e-journal plattform
provide
er; and has provided consultan cy to comm
mercial and
d not-for-p
profit
publish
hers, large and small,, and inter mediaries of all descriptions in the
information chain
n. In addition, under the brand of Renew T
Training, S
Simon
n a numberr of coursess run in asssociation w
with UKSG and
is a co-trainer on
ans and publishers.
ALPSP for libraria
ong inventive and ana
alytical stre
eaks,
With a technological backgrround, stro
ned with a keen eye for
f businesss, and yea
ars of expe
erience in the
combin
scholarly informa
ation arena
a, Simon In
nger provid
des his clients with
ons to majo
or strategic
c issues, po
ortfolio dev
velopment,, platform a
and
solutio
system
ms selection
n, pricing and
a
busine ss model cchanges, an
nd a wide range
of othe
er consultancy projec
cts.
Page 6
May 2014