...It gets worse for legacy subscription-based publishers like Elsevier and Wiley (and better for the public): gold open access will yield an author's market instead of a reader's, so publishers will no longer hold the monopolies they currently have. A researcher who needs to read an article in Cell can only get a subscription from Elsevier at Elsevier's price, whereas an author considering publishing in Cell can simply go elsewhere if the price is unattractive.
And the price will likely be unattractive. With new open-access publishers launching all the time, the likes of PeerJ promise peer-reviewed articles for a fee as low as $99 (£63), and eLife is waiving publication fees altogether for its first few years. On the new, level playing field, these sprightly electronic journals are likely to outcompete the dinosaurs...
By Mike Taylor
