Economic Cost Models of Scientific Scholarly Journals

Source Publication (e.g., journal title)

Economic, Read Costs and Benefits of Electronic Publishing in Science--A Technical Study: Proceedings of the ICSU Press Workshop

Authors

Donald W. King
Carol Tenopir, University of Tennessee - Knoxville

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 1998

Abstract

This paper summarizes costs of publishing scientific scholarly journals. Activities are described for five publishing components: article processing (e.g., manuscript processing, editing , composition, etc.), non-article processing (i.e. similar activities related to covers, tables-of-content, letters, book reviews, etc.), reproduction (e.g., printing, collating, binding, etc.), distribution (e.g., wrapping, labeling, sorting, mailing, subscription maintenance, etc.), and support (e.g., marketing, administration, finance, etc.). A model is derived for each of these components consisting of cost parameters (e.g., number of issues, pages, subscriptions, etc.) and cost elements (e.g., cost per page of editing, set-up cost per issue, postage cost per issue copy mailed, etc.). Total costs of a "typical" journal are presented where cost parameters are estimated from a sample of scientific scholarly journals and cost elements derived from estimates reported in the literature. Costs of electronic publications are also derived.

Recommended Citation

Donald W. King and Carol Tenopir. “Economic Cost Models of Scientific Scholarly Journals.” In Economic, Read Costs and Benefits of Electronic Publishing in Science--A Technical Study: Proceedings of the ICSU Press Workshop, Keble College, Oxford, UK, March 31 to April 2, 1998. URL: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/icsu/kingppr.htm.