Thorsten W. Becker
Editor in Chief, Geochemistry,
Geophysics, Geosystems (G3)
University of Southern California,
Los Angeles CA 90089
213-740-8365, twb@usc.edu
A note on AGU pricing policies for publication in G-Cubed
October 4, 2012
Dear G-Cubed author:
This letter is concerned with AGU's present pricing policy for publications and is for wide
circulation to all G-Cubed contributors.
We would like to thank you for your interest and continued support of the journal.
G-Cubed strives to publish the highest quality, process-oriented science after fast and fair review.
With your and AGU's help, we have made great strides in further improving the journal over the
last years, and we continue to work hard on your behalf on making G-Cubed as easily accessible
as possible, for both authors and readers.
It is our goal to make G-Cubed the venue of choice for you as an author. This includes being
financially competitive.
While production is not within the editors' purview but subject to AGU policies, a few comments
appear in place. Please note that those comments reflect my personal interpretations of current
AGU business models, and that those are in a state of transition.
Right now, AGU journal papers cost around ~$1000-$1500 to publish, even for an online-only
journal. Depending on your grant funding situation, we realize that this can be steep indeed. The
price arises because it takes money to edit, archive, promote, and online-publish the material.
However, AGU journals are also supposed to make a profit, at present. That profit does not go to
share holders, but to supporting other efforts of the Union, such as subsidizing student
membership.
Some problems with this model can arise because of different support and funding structures in
different communities. If you are a US PI, you will typically be able to write publication costs as
a line item into your grant proposals, making publication affordable, and the National Science
Foundation can support community publishing in this way. However, we realize that this is less
common in some disciplines, or in some other countries.
Therefore, should you not have, or cannot obtain, grant support for your G-Cubed paper, you
should always let AGU production know of the individual circumstances. Not being able to
afford publication should never be a barrier for entering the scientific discourse via an AGU
journal.
Besides the regular publication fee, AGU has recently started to enforce excess length charges on
papers. This is to keep contributions within accessible presentation, and feasible production,
formats. Such goals of a concise presentation are something we support at G-Cubed, in principle,
but we would like to handle length issues more flexibly on the editorial, rather than the
production, side of the process.
Our goals are first and foremost to be able to modify the article format and length to the best way
the science can be communicated.
With this in mind, we encourage a compact presentation (~12 – 14 figures, ~10,000 words, a
total of ~12 pages, for regular articles are a guideline) but we also want to allow for the provision
of details of methods and results that shorter format journals do not. In particular, you should, of
course, not be punished with excess length charges if we asked you to provide further detail in
review, or if there are inconsistencies with how the online tool is assessing paper length.
With support from AGU's editorial assistant team, we have quickly worked out the initial kinks
in the length assessment system, and, as editors, we have the authority to waive excess length
fees. We have, in fact, done so in all the cases that were brought to our attention where accepted
papers were incurring excess length fees. In in doubt, please contact us, we can help.
While this contorted procedure is obviously not ideal and only creates extra work and friction for
all parties involved, it is the current fix, and we may also be able to address past issues if you
alert us to them.
My apologies for this unfortunate situation.
We continue to work with AGU throughout the transition to a partnership with Wiley to make
sure that we are not encumbered by the extra hassle it takes to achieve our goals of flexible
length publication at a fair price. The general issue of pricing and possibly reducing fees from the
“standard” $1000 - $1500 cost is, of course, also a subject we continue to discuss with AGU, and
open source access a model we keep bringing up with AGU to consider.
Please let me know if you have any further questions on the pricing issues, or any other
comments on the any other aspects of the journal; my email is twb@usc.edu.
Also please note that we are currently looking for an editor for G-Cubed in the broadly defined
area of Earth System Evolution and Solid Earth-Exosphere Interactions. We hope that you might
want to volunteer or nominate someone; a formal ad will be on the web and in Eos soon.
Please always feel free to contact me with any concerns or suggestions you might have regarding
the journal.
Looking forward to interacting with you and handling your high impact science.
Sincerely,
Thorsten Becker
For the G-Cubed editorial team
Joel Baker
Lou Derry
Jim Tyburczy
Thorsten Becker