1. Scientific Publishing and SciPost
Illustrations by Dom McKenzie
Claudio Attaccalite
ETSF 2017 Frascati (Rome)
The views expressed in this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views of the SciPost fondation

2. Scientific Publishing
is a remarkable big business
With a total global revenues of more than £19bn, it weights between recording and film industries but it is more profitable
For example Elsevier in 2010 posted a profit margin of 36%. Higher than Apple or Google
Money goes to shareholders Profit margin, net margin, net profit margin or net profit ratio is a measure of profitability. It is calculated by finding the net profit as a percentage of the revenue
This margin raised to 40% in 2013
20% for society publishers and 25% for university publishers Successful magazines make profits of around 12-15%

3. Why Scientific Publishing
is so profitable?
A triple pay system
Scientists give their results to publishers for free
Governments fund scientists
Scientists peer review manuscripts
In a traditional market suppliers are paid for the goods they provide
Cost of additional contents as editorials, commentary, and journalism
Governments fund libraries
Publishers sell products to libraries

4. What about (gold) Open access
In physics the major part of journals allows authors to self-archive contents that have been published
Open-access journals have a lower publication cost (only online, new companies, better workflow)
Conversion to OPJ is slow because subscriptions are paid by universities, and for scientists perspective subscriptional journals are for free.
but
Different call for OpenScience from Europe and other countries
Publicly funded research output to be open access

5. (Gold) Open access is not a solution
Publication cost is proportional to impact factor (you can pay to get more visibility)
Acceptance rate is higher
PloS ONE $ %
Physical Review Letters $ %
Nature $30k-40k 8%

6. green Open Access (SciPost and others)
Let’s bring some money back to science

7.
An idea of Jean-Sébastien Caux

8. Two-way open access: for readers and authors!
Managed by professional scientists
Non-profit
Peer-witnessed refereeing
Scientific publications undergo a peer refereeing process, witnessed by the community instead of hidden behind closed doors.
Accountable and credited refereeing
Peer refereeing should be accountable, and should be incentivized by being credited
Post-publication evaluation
Peer evaluation does not stop at the moment of publication.

9. Three referees are contacted Submission through arXiv
SciPost Editor (me)
Referees report and editor recommendation
Rejection
Publication
Comments
Decision on publication or rejection is taken by the Editorial College

10. Let’s bring some money back to science
Conclusions
green Open Access journal (SciPost and others) are a valid alternative to Open-Access Journal and Subscriptional Journal
They will not substitute normal journals but can push them to low their prices
‘You have no idea how profitable these journals are once you stop doing anything. When you’re building a journal, you spend time getting good editorial boards etc.. and then ….. we stop doing all that stuff and then the cash just pours out and you wouldn’t believe how wonderful it is.’
Pierre Vinken, the CEO of Elsevier
Let’s bring some money back to science

11. References: SciPost, http://scipost.org
Open access: The true cost of science publishing
How much does it cost to publish in Open Access?
To Open Access or not to Open Access?
Giornali ad accesso aperto e giornali per ricercatori ricchi (italian)
Is the staggeringly profitable business of scientific publishing bad for science?
SciELO,
Quantum Journal,
The Truth about China’s Cash-for-Publication Policy