David Prosser wrote: "In a sense it is not really
worth arguing
about as only a tiny fraction of the 20,000 or so
peer-review
journals published world-wide make any significant
advertising
revenue."
Actually, it is worth arguing about, since you (and the OA
movement in general) appear to grossly underestimate the
total
advertising revenue and pages in medical journals. According
to
the research form PERQ-HCI, there was about $850 million in
advertising in medical, dental, and nursing journals in
2005. The
revenue comes from more than 600 journals, from giants like
JAMA
and NEJM to niche titles like Archives of Facial Plastic
Surgery.
Not all of the advertising money will be lost under OA, of
course--but much will, either because journals no longer
offer an
exclusive path to an audience, or because some journals
refuse
advertising on principle (PLoS Medicine, for example).
I don't think jeopardizing nearly a billion dollars in
revenue is
a trivial concern for an industry--especially not one
thinking of
giving up its other main source of funding, subscriptions.
There
are always bake sales, I guess, or wealthy benefactors!
Peter Banks
Publisher
American Diabetes Association
Email: pbanks diabetes.org
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