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Version of 24 March 2006
This document is an Appendix to 'A Cost-Profile of Journal-Publishing'
© Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, 2005-06
Available under an AEShareNet 
licence or a Creative
Commons 
licence.
This document is at http://www.rogerclarke.com/EC/JP-CP-FPCS.html
This Appendix presents an indicative cost-profile for a particular kind of journal-publisher.
The organisational category addressed here is an organisation that publishes multiple journals, for profit, applying conventional, subscription-based access. It may be a corporation, or a business unit of an Association which is obliged by the Association to generate a surplus. In a sample of 21 journals from 1999-2000, Willinsky (2003a) noted that 6 made a surplus; but he concluded that most subsidised journal publication from membership fees.
It is assumed to have many journals. It has substantial investment in brand-image, a strong competitive stance, aggressive protection of content, provides hard-copy issues to its subscribers, and makes soft-copies available on the Web to its subscribers, and to others on a per-article basis for a fee.
To enable the computation of per-article estimates that are reasonably comparable with those for other categories, each journal is assumed to comprise quarterly Issues, each with 7-8 articles, for a total of 30 articles p.a.
1 | Conception and articulation of the journal's name, scope, philosophy and modus operandi | Undertaken by senior academics, but with greater involvement from senior executives, and an orientation more strongly towards saleability than service. 4 executive-weeks – $20,000 |
| 2 | Preliminary negotiations within the intellectual community | Undertaken by senior academics, but influenced by saleability as well as service |
| 3 | Preliminary negotiations with potential providers of operational resources | Undertaken by senior academics, but with a commitment to in-house performance or controlled outsourcing by the publisher |
| 4 | Preliminary negotiations with potential providers of infrastructure | Undertaken by senior academics, but with a commitment to in-house performance or controlled outsourcing by the publisher |
| 5 | Acquisition of investment and working capital | Undertaken by either senior academics or senior executives, but with a commitment to in-house performance or controlled outsourcing by the publisher |
| 6 | Appointment of Board, Editor and Editorial Committee(s) | Undertaken by senior academics |
| 7 | Accumulation of Referees List | Undertaken by senior academics |
| 8 | Acquisition of infrastructure | Undertaken by senior executives, and with a commitment to the publisher's infrastructure, and with the Web-site run using sophisticated and expensive tools. Allocated share of infrastructure worth millions – say $50,000 |
| 9 | Acquisition of operational resources | Undertaken by senior executives, and with a commitment to the publisher's infrastructure, and with the Web-site run using sophisticated and expensive tools. 1-2 staff weeks – say $5,000 |
| 10 | Acquisition of intellectual property (logos, trademarks, copyrights, licences) | Undertaken by senior executives, with emphasis on branding and
content-protection as well as service. 2-4 staff-weeks – say $10,000 |
| 11 | Preparation of formal components of the printed journal and web-site | Undertaken by senior executives and staff. 1-2 staff-weeks – say $5,000 |
| 12 | Preparation of web-site | Supervised by senior executives, and undertaken by staff, but with
emphasis on branding and content-protection as well as service. 1-2 staff-weeks – say $5,000 |
| 13 | Announcement to the community | Undertaken by senior academics, and marketed by senior executives and
staff. 1-2 staff-weeks – say $5,000 |
| 14 | Issue of initial calls for papers | Undertaken by senior academics |
1 | Receipt, acknowledgement and management | Editor, Editorial Committee and Referees, supported by a
paid assistant, and possibly also by junior academics or students.
$10,000 p.a., equivalent to $2,500 per Issue or $330 per article |
| 2 | Conduct and management of the assessment process | Editor, Editorial Committee and Referees, generally gratis, but possibly with an honorarium for the Editor, and possibly allowances, free advertising or similar partial recompense. $5,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,250 per Issue |
1 | Production-editing | By the publisher's professional staff or contractors,
requiring 0.1 EFT p.a. $10,000 p.a., equivalent to $2,500 per Issue |
| 2 | Cataloguing | By the publisher's professional staff or contractors, but included in the time for Production-editing, immediately above |
1 | Editorial | Effort by the Editor |
| 2 | Production-editing | By the publisher's professional staff or contractors. $1,000 per issue, equivalent to $4,000 p.a. |
| 3 | Production | For hard-copy issues, by an outsourced service provider. Assuming 1,000 copies per Issue and $5.00 per tome, then $20,000 p.a., equivalent to $5,000 per Issue For the Web-site, by the publisher's professional staff or contractors $5,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,250 per Issue |
| 4 | Protection | By the publisher's professional staff or contractors. $10,000 p.a. |
| 5 | Distribution | For hard-copy issues, by an outsourced service provider Assuming 1,000 copies per Issue, then $5,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,250 per Issue |
1 | Marketing | Substantial, undertaken primarily by the publisher's
staff. $10,000 p.a., equivalent to $2,500 per Issue |
| 2 | Customer relationship management | Substantial, undertaken by the publisher's staff. $10,000 p.a., equivalent to $2,500 per Issue |
| 3 | Archive management | Undertaken by the publisher's staff. $5,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,250 per Issue |
| 4 | Indexing | Undertaken by the publisher's staff. $5,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,250 per Issue |
| 5 | Governance | Undertaken by the Editor and Editorial Committee, with some limited support from publisher executives and staff |
1 | Editor and Editorial Committee(s) | Undertaken by senior academics |
| 2 | A pool of referees | Undertaken by senior academics |
| 3 | Communications channels | Arranged by senior academics, supported by junior academics or students |
| 4 | Norms for communications and formatting | Undertaken by senior academics |
| 5 | Production facilities | Undertaken by the publisher's senior executives and staff. Covered by treating the amortised establishment costs as an ongoing annual figure | 6 | Subscription-list facilities | Undertaken by the publisher's senior executives and staff. Covered by treating the amortised establishment costs as an ongoing annual figure |
| 7 | Distribution mechanisms | Undertaken by the publisher's senior executives and staff. Covered by treating the amortised establishment costs as an ongoing annual figure |
1 | Interest on investment capital | $100,000 Establishment Costs, at a rate of 5% basic plus a risk factor of 10%. $15,000 p.a., equivalent to $3,750 per Issue |
| 2 | Interest on working capital | 1/6th of annual turnover of $124,000, at a rate of 5% basic plus a
risk factor of 10%. $3,000 p.a., equivalent to $750 per Issue |
| Establishment | $100,000, amortised over 5 years = $20,000 p.a., equivalent to $5,000 per Issue |
| Operations – Submission-Related | $15,000 p.a., equivalent to $3,750 per Issue |
| Operations – Article-Related | $10,000 p.a., equivalent to $2,500 per Issue |
| Operations – Issue-Related | $44,000 p.a., equivalent to $11,000 per Issue |
| Operations – Generic | $30,000 p.a., equivalent to $7,500 per Issue |
| Infrastructure Maintenance | Covered in the Establishment Cost calculation |
| Financial | $18,000 p.a., equivalent to $4,500 per Issue |
| TOTAL | $137,000 p.a., $34,250 per Issue. For an eJournal only:
|
With a subscription-based revenue model, the publisher is dependent upon attracting sufficient subscribers. In the case of a print-journal, an average subscription rate of $300 p.a. (e.g. one-third individuals @ $100 and two-thirds institutions @ $400), would require 460 subscribers to reach breakeven. An eJournal only, at the same subscription-rates, would need only 375 subscribers.
Some journals have, or develop, sufficient reputation that the publisher is able to exploit its monopoly position; but many journals do not. Other avenues through which for-profit publishers can enhance revenue include differential services for various market-segments, and non-availability of particular journals other than within bundles of multiple journals.
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The content and infrastructure for these community service pages are provided by Roger Clarke through his consultancy company, Xamax. From the site's beginnings in August 1994 until February 2009, the infrastructure was provided by the Australian National University. During that time, the site accumulated close to 30 million hits. It passed 75 million in late 2024. Sponsored by the Gallery, Bunhybee Grasslands, the extended Clarke Family, Knights of the Spatchcock and their drummer |
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Created: 31 March 2005 - Last Amended: 24 March 2006 by Roger Clarke - Site Last Verified: 15 February 2009
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