Editorial
pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
The Real Costs of Publishing the Journal
Norbert J. Pienta*
Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2556, United States
ABSTRACT: The components of the Journal are discussed in term of costs in money and human resources.
KEYWORDS: General Public, Public Understanding/Outreach
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“Why did the price of a print subscription increase so much
recently?”
Because the Journal underwent recent transitions in both the
editor-in-chief and by entering into a copublication agreement
with the ACS Journals Division, it seems appropriate to provide
some context and historical perspective so everyone might have
better insight.
The editor transition in fall 2009 was targeted as the time to
make substantial changes, particularly to submission, review,
and production of content in the Journal, a decision supported
by the previous Editor-in-Chief, the current Editor-in-Chief,
and the Board of Publication of the Division of Chemical
Education. Thus, a committee investigated three scenarios and
presented them to the Board: one that represented the status
quo, a second that involved “buying” services from third-party
vendors, and a third that involved entering into a copublication
agreement with ACS Journals. That process and the final
decisions took upwards of nine months and considerable effort
from several groups of participants. It was certainly well
informed. Electronic submission and review was deemed
necessary because continuing with the paper alternative was
not tractable with the increases in submissions or the
inefficiencies of the previous system. Frankly, no one argued
that point and except for some new users getting temporarily
befuddled by the ACS ParagonPlus environment, authors,
reviewers, and editors all agree that the Journal has benefitted.
JCE has been accessible via a Web version, as have its archives,
for a considerable time; Journal content about the Internet or
using it in special ways and special features like JCE Online and
JCE Sof tware are part of our rich and cutting-edge tradition.
However, even more features are available as the result of the
partnership with ACS Journals and their Web-delivery partner
Atypon. We consider it a positive sign when users take some
things for granted; technology changes constantly and our great
content keeps showing up, accessible to our users. JCE joined a
production process involving staff and services in Columbus,
Ohio that offers XML data management, galley proofs, and
ultimately digital color printing. The composition system
changed (e.g., the addition of abstracts and keywords in print
and online) in spring 2011 without disruption or a significant
“retooling” by JCE staff. All of these tools and services cost
money and in some cases, substantially more than what was
expended before the transitions in 2009.
ournalism and publishing are undergoing a revolution and all
facets of it, from content delivery to economic models, are in
transition. One might expect that any of the eight editors-inchief of this Journal could have written such an opening
statement during their tenures, but the current status of
information delivery makes the topic timely again for this
Journal. Electronic tools and the Internet make instantaneous
distribution an expectation, and academic journals are currently
grappling with various aspects of open access. The term “open
access” refers to the unrestricted right to use peer-reviewed
journal content. It is often differentiated into “green” or “gold”
categories: the former allows authors, their institutions, and
certain sites such as PubMed Central1 to archive author content
at some time after publication; the latter grants immediate
distribution rights. Gold open access involves journals designed
specifically to publish in this way, typically because publication
costs are borne by the authors and their funding agencies.
The Journal of Chemical Education and its copublication
partner, the American Chemical Society (ACS) Journals
Division, are still considering the open-access options. Nevertheless rapid changes in JCE during the past few years warrant
some exposition and commentary. Relevant to this discussion is
a consideration of what resources it takes to produce an issue of
the Journal. Who are the contributors and stakeholders and
what are the costs? Several aspects of journal publishing involve
voluntary contributions: our authors send us their best ideas
and the descriptions of that scholarly work put into practice,
reviewers provide commentary about the value or worth of the
author’s contributions, and editors decide what gets accepted
and how the content is presented. These critical components
are not “free”, although no money changes hands during these
aspects of publishing. However, the review, production, and
dissemination portions of JCE publication involve services and
products that are purchased or leased.
This Editor-in-Chief, the Associate Editors, the Journal’s
fiduciary administration (i.e., the Board of Publication of the
Division of Chemical Education), Journal staff, and the
administrative staff of the ACS Journals Division all get asked
questions related to access, availability, and costs.
“As an author, why can’t I put my article anywhere I want,
whenever I want?”
“If I have a print subscription, I get to keep the copy forever,
but why do I have to pay for the electronic access every
year?”
“It doesn’t cost me anything to keep my desktop going. Why
is a Web subscription so expensive?”
© XXXX American Chemical Society and
Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed400027r | J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Education
Editorial
Starting in 2008, the economy began to wreak havoc on
businesses and many of them abandoned or at least curtailed
their advertising. In some sectors, such as textbook publishing,
the number of competitors dropped precipitously, along with
their advertising budgets. Revenue from advertising supported
the print version of the Journal. Advertising revenues, coupled
with subsidies from institutional subscriptions, were used to
maintain an accessible subscription fee for individual
subscribers. For example, in 2009, the postage and handling
cost alone for an annual individual subscription was ca. $40,
compared to the 2009 subscription price of $45. The agreement
between the Board of Publication and ACS Journals Division
stipulates that both parties will negotiate prices for
subscriptions, and they managed to maintain the extremely
low price until recently, longer than the agreement required.
Everyone is aware of the “sticker shock” that often accompanies
such changes. A statement from the Board of Publication
appears on the Division of Chemical Education Web site,2
addressing the pricing change. These are difficult decisions and
ones that are made after careful consideration and in the
context of a much bigger picture. In this case, it has been part of
a process that started before the transitions that occurred in
2009.3,4
Given the current circumstances and conditions under which
the Journal is produced and published, it is not a free, openaccess journal. Different institutional and individual subscriptions, as well as ACS member benefits, continue to make
current issues and all the JCE archives readily accessible. The
editors and staff, the Board of Publication, and the Journal’s
partners at the ACS Journals Division are all striving to make
the Journal available, affordable, and valuable. We hope that you
continue to support the Journal.
■
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail: norbert-pienta@jce.acs.org.
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not
necessarily the views of the ACS.
■
REFERENCES
(1) PubMed Central Web page. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
(accessed Jan 2013).
(2) Statement about JCE pricing, Division of Chemical Education
Web site. http://www.divched.org/winter2012/jcepricing (accessed
Jan 2013).
(3) Moore, J. W. Does Information Want To Be Free? J. Chem. Educ.
2008, 85 (11), 1467.
(4) Moore, J. W. Change: Help To Shape It. J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86
(9), 1003.
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed400027r | J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX