Roger Clarke's 'A Cost-Profile of Journal-Publishing'

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Roger Clarke's 'A Cost-Profile of Journal-Publishing'

A Cost-Profile of Journal-Publishing
Appendix 1: Unincorporated Mutual, Hard-Copy Journal with Subscription Fee

Version of 24 March 2006

This document is an Appendix to 'A Cost-Profile of Journal-Publishing'

Available under an AEShareNet licence or a Creative Commons licence.

This document is at http://www.rogerclarke.com/EC/JP-CP-UMSubs.html

Category Description

This Appendix presents an indicative cost-profile for a particular kind of journal-publisher.

The organisational category addressed here is an Unincorporated Mutual (or an Association that publishes a journal as a separate, financially self-supporting business division), which outsources printing and distribution to a specialist magazine publisher. The revenue model is subscription-based.

It is not an eJournal, but publishes the Contents of its Issues, probably including Abstracts, on its own web-site.

It is assumed to comprise quarterly Issues, each with 5 articles, for a total of 20 articles p.a.

Costs

Untitled Document

Establishment Costs

1

Conception and articulation of the journal's name, scope, philosophy and modus operandi Undertaken by senior academics
2 Preliminary negotiations within the intellectual community Undertaken by senior academics
3 Preliminary negotiations with potential providers of operational resources Undertaken by senior academics
4 Preliminary negotiations with potential providers of infrastructure Undertaken by senior academics
5 Acquisition of investment and working capital Undertaken by senior academics
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 academics, with the Web-site run using gratis, open source tools
9 Acquisition of operational resources Undertaken by senior academics
10 Acquisition of intellectual property (logos, trademarks, copyrights, licences) Undertaken by senior academics
11 Preparation of formal components of the printed journal and web-site Undertaken by senior academics, supported by outsourced service provider
12 Preparation of web-site Undertaken by junior academics or students
13 Announcement to the community Undertaken by senior academics
14 Issue of initial calls for papers Undertaken by senior academics

Operations Costs

• Submission-Related

1

Receipt, acknowledgement and management Editor, Editorial Committee and Referees, possibly supported by junior academics or students
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

• Article-Related

1
Production-editing Partly by the Editor or a member of the Editorial Committee, partly by junior academics or students, and partly for-fee by the outsourced service provider
$4,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,000 per Issue (or $200 per article)
2 Cataloguing Partly by the Editor or a member of the Editorial Committee, partly by junior academics or students, and partly for-fee by the outsourced service provider

• Issue-Related

1
Editorial Effort by the Editor
2 Production-editing Partly by the Editor or a member of the Editorial Committee, partly by junior academics or students, and partly for-fee by the outsourced service provider, but included above

3 Production For hard-copy issues, for-fee by the outsourced service provider
Assuming 300 copies per Issue and $6 per tome, then $7,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,750 per Issue (or $350 per article).
For the Web-site, by the Editor, possibly supported by a junior academic or student
4 Protection None
5 Distribution For-fee by the outsourced service provider
Assuming 300 copies per Issue, then $1,000 p.a., equivalent to $250 per Issue (or $50 per article)

• Generic

1
Marketing Limited, undertaken primarily by senior academics, with some for-fee support from the outsourced service provider
$1,000 p.a., equivalent to $250 per Issue (or $50 per article)
2 Customer relationship management For-fee by the outsourced service provider
$3,000 p.a., equivalent to $750 per Issue (or $150 per article)
3 Archive management Dependent on libraries
4 Indexing Dependent on indexing services
5 Governance Undertaken by the Editor and Editorial Committee, with for-fee support from the outsourced service provider
$4,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,000 per Issue (or $200 per article)

Infrastructure-Maintenance Costs

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 Included in the fees charged by the outsourced service provider
6 Subscription-list facilities Included in the fees charged by the outsourced service provider
7 Distribution mechanisms Included in the fees charged by the outsourced service provider

Financial Costs

1
Interest on investment capital None
2 Interest on working capital None

TOTAL COSTS

Establishment Nil
Operations – Submission-Related Nil
Operations – Article-Related $4,000 p.a., $1,000 per Issue (or $200 per article)
Operations – Issue-Related $8,000 p.a., $2,000 per Issue (or $400 per article)
Operations – Generic $8,000 p.a., $2,000 per Issue (or $400 per article)
Infrastructure Maintenance Nil
Financial Nil
TOTAL $20,000 p.a., $5,000 per Issue (or $1,000 per article)

Business Model

In order to achieve breakeven on subscriptions alone, and assuming that:

subscriptions are $70 individual and $300 institutional; and
the ratio of individual to institutional subscriptions is 2:1;

then breakeven requires 50 institutional and 100 individual subscriptions.

If instead, the same operation were conducted using an author-pays open access model, then the indicative cost per published article is $1,000.

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1	Conception and articulation of the journal's name, scope, philosophy and modus operandi	Undertaken by senior academics
2	Preliminary negotiations within the intellectual community	Undertaken by senior academics
3	Preliminary negotiations with potential providers of operational resources	Undertaken by senior academics
4	Preliminary negotiations with potential providers of infrastructure	Undertaken by senior academics
5	Acquisition of investment and working capital	Undertaken by senior academics
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 academics, with the Web-site run using gratis, open source tools
9	Acquisition of operational resources	Undertaken by senior academics
10	Acquisition of intellectual property (logos, trademarks, copyrights, licences)	Undertaken by senior academics
11	Preparation of formal components of the printed journal and web-site	Undertaken by senior academics, supported by outsourced service provider
12	Preparation of web-site	Undertaken by junior academics or students
13	Announcement to the community	Undertaken by senior academics
14	Issue of initial calls for papers	Undertaken by senior academics

1	Production-editing	Partly by the Editor or a member of the Editorial Committee, partly by junior academics or students, and partly for-fee by the outsourced service provider $4,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,000 per Issue (or $200 per article)
2	Cataloguing	Partly by the Editor or a member of the Editorial Committee, partly by junior academics or students, and partly for-fee by the outsourced service provider

1	Editorial	Effort by the Editor
2	Production-editing	Partly by the Editor or a member of the Editorial Committee, partly by junior academics or students, and partly for-fee by the outsourced service provider, but included above
3	Production	For hard-copy issues, for-fee by the outsourced service provider Assuming 300 copies per Issue and $6 per tome, then $7,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,750 per Issue (or $350 per article). For the Web-site, by the Editor, possibly supported by a junior academic or student
4	Protection	None
5	Distribution	For-fee by the outsourced service provider Assuming 300 copies per Issue, then $1,000 p.a., equivalent to $250 per Issue (or $50 per article)

1	Marketing	Limited, undertaken primarily by senior academics, with some for-fee support from the outsourced service provider $1,000 p.a., equivalent to $250 per Issue (or $50 per article)
2	Customer relationship management	For-fee by the outsourced service provider $3,000 p.a., equivalent to $750 per Issue (or $150 per article)
3	Archive management	Dependent on libraries
4	Indexing	Dependent on indexing services
5	Governance	Undertaken by the Editor and Editorial Committee, with for-fee support from the outsourced service provider $4,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,000 per Issue (or $200 per article)

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	Included in the fees charged by the outsourced service provider
6	Subscription-list facilities	Included in the fees charged by the outsourced service provider
7	Distribution mechanisms	Included in the fees charged by the outsourced service provider

1	Interest on investment capital	None
2	Interest on working capital	None

Establishment	Nil
Operations – Submission-Related	Nil
Operations – Article-Related	$4,000 p.a., $1,000 per Issue (or $200 per article)
Operations – Issue-Related	$8,000 p.a., $2,000 per Issue (or $400 per article)
Operations – Generic	$8,000 p.a., $2,000 per Issue (or $400 per article)
Infrastructure Maintenance	Nil
Financial	Nil
TOTAL	$20,000 p.a., $5,000 per Issue (or $1,000 per article)