Subscription Publication Research Articles

News and perspectives for Annals of Applied Biology in 2023: Looking forward to more and more submissions

News and perspectives for <scp><i>Annals of Applied Biology</i></scp> in 2023: Looking forward to more and more submissions

Net benefit of scholarly communication and a new framework for analyzing the pros and cons of Open Access

<p indent="0mm">Open Access has been in full swing around the world, with 1251434 academic papers published Open Access in 2021 <sc>(or 45.55%</sc> of 2747405 totally published) and indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded database. Open Access is surpassing the subscription publication model globally and continues to grow rapidly. China has been actively participating in the global Open Access initiatives since 2003, as landmarked by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China signing the <italic>Berlin Declaration</italic> on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, followed by mandating China’s Open Access policies in 2014. Open Science was written into <italic>the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Progress of Science and Technology</italic> (amended in December 2021) for the first time. Even though the great progress achieved, there still exist numerous debates, doubts and misunderstandings on the Open Access, especially the pros and cons from the economic aspect. This paper defines a new concept: The net benefit of scholarly communication (NBSC), which equals the benefit of scholarly communication (BSC) minus the cost of scholarly communication (CSC). Based on this concept, a new framework for analyzing the pros and cons of Open Access is proposed. We hope Open Access bring ΔNBSC&gt;0, which can happen in four paths: (1) ΔBSC&gt;0 and ΔCSC&lt;0, Open Access adds BSC and saves CSC; (2) ΔBSC=0 and ΔCSC&lt;0, BSC keeps no change and CSC gets saved; (3) ΔBSC&gt;0 and ΔCSC=0, BSC gets added and CSC keeps no change; and <sc>(4) ΔBSC&gt;0,</sc> ΔCSC&gt;0, however, ΔBSC–ΔCSC&gt;0, both BSC and CSC get added, but ΔBSC&gt;ΔCSC. Each path will contribute a net benefit to NBSC and is positive. Using this new framework, we briefly analyzed whether China should embrace Open Access. Open Access may add both the BSC and CSC to China, however, if the increment of BSC is expected to surpass the increment of CSC, i.e., as that in Path 4, China shall take the decision to embrace Open Access. Some specific policy-making suggestions are provided about the Open Access policy in China including, (1) funding agencies, universities and research institutes to issue organizational level Open Access mandates with proper Rights Retention Strategy; (2) the central government to issue the national level Open Access mandates to thesis and dissertations; (3) to build interdisciplinary and multilingual international high-end scholarly communication platforms; and (4) to adopt the Transformative Agreements (TAs) to save the cost of scholarly communication as much as possible.

Despite a stressful period with the pandemic, publication is going strong: News about Annals of Applied Biology

Despite a stressful period with the pandemic, publication is going strong: News about <i>Annals of Applied Biology</i>

Incentives to Open Access: Perspectives of Health Science Researchers

Technological development has transformed academic publication over the past two decades and new publication models, especially Open Access, have captured an important part of the publishing market, traditionally dominated by the Subscription publication model. Although Health Sciences have been one of the leading fields promoting Open Access, the perspectives of Health Science researchers on the benefits and possibilities of Open Access remain an open question. The present study sought to unveil the perspective of researchers on scientific publication decisions, in terms of the Subscription and Open Access publication model, Gold Road. With this aim, we surveyed Spanish researchers in Health Sciences. Our findings show that the value of publishing in Open Access journals increases as the experience of the researcher increases and the less she/he values the impact factor. Moreover, visibility and dissemination of the results are the main determinants of publication when choosing an Open Access journal as the first option. According to the response of the researchers, the reduction of fees and the increase in financing are important economic incentive measures to promote the Open Access publication model. It is widely accepted that the volume of Open Access publications will increase in the future.

Mark Twain and "the Pope's Book": The Charles Webster Company's Subscription Publication of the Life of Leo XIII

Mark Twain and "the Pope's Book": The Charles Webster Company's Subscription Publication of the Life of Leo XIII

Co-operating for gold open access without APCs

While article processing charges (APCs) are emerging as a key way in which existing publishers can adapt to gold open access (OA), this mode is problematic in many ways. Considering the existing subscription publication ecosystem as a risk/cost-pooling mechanism leads to the conclusion that APCs are a concentration of risk that may come with damaging institutional consequences, particularly in the humanities disciplines. Consortial and co-operative modes of funding gold OA, however, do not come with these drawbacks but are susceptible to ‘free riders’. In this article, the theoretical backdrop to these models is addressed and the range of current offerings evaluated. Noting that classical economic incentives do not seem to operate in a world of inter-library loans, the article ends with a description of the model that is being implemented for the Open Library of Humanities initiative, funded by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation.

John Byrom and the Contexts of Charles Wesley's Shorthand

Abstract This article demonstrates that Charles Wesley's use of shorthand over many years carries biographical as well as textual significance. Surveying his acquaintance with the poet and stenographer John Byrom (1692–1763), it explores aspects of the wider ‘textual community’ of Byrom's system, which embraced several others in early Methodist circles. It considers how the Wesley brothers first became acquainted with this ‘universal English shorthand’, explores its diverse applications, and considers Charles Wesley's involvement in moves toward promulgating it by subscription publication, pointing to dimensions such as the aesthetic and linguistic, which might partly explain early Methodists' esteem for it.

Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association (1940–1960)

Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association (1940–1960)

Anthony Wood's Athenae Oxonienses and the Subscription Publication in Seventeenth-Century England

Anthony Wood's Athenae Oxonienses and the Subscription Publication in Seventeenth-Century England

Frances Burney's Camilla : "to print my Grand Work...by subscription"

Critics have tended to view Frances Burney's authorial activities as evidence of her diffidence as a cultural producer. In fact, a closer examination of her publishing history, especially her management of the subscription publication of her third novel, Camilla, reveals quite the contrary. In addition to being an accomplished novelist, playwright, letter writer, and diarist, Burney was also a skillful negotiator who understood the economic and aesthetic value of her literary productions, and worked hard to obtain what she felt to be appropriate remuneration for them. Not only was Burney willing to engage with the material aspects of cultural production, but she was sensitive to the subtleties of exchange dynamics operating during the time in which she was writing. By focusing on her publishing history, we are able to trace the arc of her professionalization, and come to understand the ways in which Burney negotiated the complexities of the literary field.