Library Journal Board Resigns On "Crisis of Conscience" After Swartz Death

c0lo writes "The editor-in-chief and entire editorial board of the Journal of Library Administration announced their resignation last week, citing 'a crisis of conscience about publishing in a journal that was not open access' in the days after the death of Aaron Swartz. The board had worked with publisher Taylor & Francis on an open-access compromise in the months since, which would allow the journal to release articles without paywall, but Taylor & Francis' final terms asked contributors to pay $2,995 for each open-access article. As more and more contributors began to object, the board ultimately found the terms unworkable. The journal's editor-in-chief said 'After much discussion, the only alternative presented by Taylor & Francis tied a less restrictive license to a $2995 per article fee to be paid by the author. As you know, this is not a viable licensing option for authors from the LIS community who are generally not conducting research under large grants.'"

Comments

The other reason to charge for submission

[Anonymous Coward]

So, here's the other reason to force people to pay to submit to the journal. This weeds out the cranks and trolls. $3K will weed out the trolls and overposts. Is that the right number? I don't know. Once we accept that getting rid of the trolls has value to the author, the question is whether or not the open access fee is a reasonable business case for the publisher. Then it sort of makes sense. For another $1000, will they lose an average of 50 paid reads? I don't know. However, the better the journal, the more likely I am to to put effort into getting it. Remember that there is a monetary value to many researchers for getting published; it does enhance their career. There is a business case for the authors here too.