1. “Quasi-Open” Access : the bepress
Experience
Sean O’Doherty
Vice President
The Berkeley Electronic Press
SSP 2006 Annual Conference
2. Session Overview
• How and Why New Publishers Have Emerged
• Examples of Scholar-Driven Publishing Efforts
• The bepress Case Study
– Founding Principles
– Software Development
– “Quasi-Open” Access
– Why do Libraries Subscribe?
– Reaction within the Academy
– Results to Date
– Lessons Learned
3. How and Why New Publishers Have Emerged
• Response to scholarly communication crisis
• Growing availability of web-based publishing tools
– Low-cost solution at a time of high budget stress
– Ease of use reduces barriers to entry
4. Examples of Scholar-Driven Publishing Efforts
• Wealth of grassroots publishing activity coming from the
academy
– Institutional repositories
– Noncommercial startups
– Commercial startups
7. The bepress Case Study
Founding Principle
Implement business policies that impact the scholarly communication
crisis in a positive way
• For authors, efficient and timely review and publishing
– Average time to publication - almost 3 years (economics, 2002)
– Bepress average time to decision: 10 weeks (publication
immediately after acceptance)
• For libraries, low subscription pricing and no annual price increases
– Average cost per journal, business & economics: $702
– Bepress average cost per journal, business & economics: $282
8. The bepress Case Study
Software Development
– Editorial management software
• EdiKit
– Institutional repository software
• DigitalCommons
– Subject matter repositories
• Bepress legal repository
• COBRA (biostatistics)
9. The bepress Case Study
Software Development – EdiKit
EdiKit is a perl-based editorial management system with the following
‘must have’ features
• Easy to use
• Easy to customize to the workflows and policies of the
individual journals, e.g. submission fees, number of reviews
required
• Automatically converts manuscripts from Word to PDF
• Automatically tracks referee activity and emails appropriate
reminders
• Provides a mechanism for anonymous correspondence
between reviewer and author
11. “Quasi-Open” Access
• Offers middle ground between free Open Access and
fee-based subscription access
• Balances the need for cost recovery against authors’ and editors’
desire for maximum readership and distribution
– Those without subscriptions can access any article by filling out a
short form (that allows us to inform their library of their interest)
– When libraries are convinced of sufficient interest in the journal,
they subscribe
14. “Quasi-Open” Access
• Why Do Libraries Subscribe?
– Moral obligation (if one’s community uses the journal, buying a
subscription is the right thing to do)
– (To use and not subscribe is to free ride)
– By subscribing, a library will provide its community with 4 to 10
times the usage-value that it would have from quasi-open access
alone
– Subscribing guarantees perpetual access (to content published
during period of subscription)
– One model among many: strikes a balance between maximizing
distribution and finding an equitable way to recover costs among
those who benefit
15. The bepress Case Study
• Reactions within the Academy
– Increased submissions to existing journals
– Increased proposals for new journals
• Why?
– Rapid decision upon submission; quick availability (EdiKit)
– Good exposure (“Quasi-Open” Access)
16. The bepress Case Study
• Results to Date
– Profitable and self-supporting: revenue increased 55% in 2005
– 114 of 123 ARL libraries subscribing to at least one journal
– Acceptance of ResearchNow Full Access to date:
• 163 subscribers
• OhioLink, CDL, FCLA, OCUL, and selective institutions in GWLA, COPPUL,
NERL
• University of Bergen, University of Paris I
– Success of The Economists’ Voice (1000 subscribers in 10 months)
• Why?
– High quality content
– Fast turnaround & high visibility attracts high quality authors, reviewers,
editors
17. Lessons Learned, Part I
• Web-based publishing tools
– Lower financial and other costs of new initiatives
– Give the academy the chance to experiment
– Create new opportunities for alternative business models
– Push commercial publishers to rethink their ways of doing
business (open access experimentation, postprints, etc.)
18. Lessons Learned, Part II
• Certain conventions remain true
– Content must be compelling
– Publishers must add value (peer review, collection of like
materials, etc.)
– Price is always a sensitivity
19. Sean O’Doherty
Vice President
The Berkeley Electronic Press
sean@bepress.com
