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This document is an Appendix to 'A Cost-Profile of Journal-Publishing'
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This Appendix presents an indicative cost-profile for a particular kind of journal-publisher.
The organisational category addressed here is an organisation that publishes multiple journals, for profit, applying conventional, subscription-based access. It may be a corporation, or a business unit of an Association which is obliged by the Association to generate a surplus. In a sample of 21 journals from 1999-2000, Willinsky (2003a) noted that 6 made a surplus; but he concluded that most subsidised journal publication from membership fees.
It is assumed to have many journals. It has substantial investment in brand-image, a strong competitive stance, aggressive protection of content, provides hard-copy issues to its subscribers, and makes soft-copies available on the Web to its subscribers, and to others on a per-article basis for a fee.
To enable the computation of per-article estimates that are reasonably comparable with those for other categories, each journal is assumed to comprise quarterly Issues, each with 7-8 articles, for a total of 30 articles p.a.
1 | Conception and articulation of the journal's name, scope, philosophy and modus operandi | Undertaken by senior academics, but with greater involvement from senior executives, and an orientation more strongly towards saleability than service. 4 executive-weeks – $20,000 |
| 2 | Preliminary negotiations within the intellectual community | Undertaken by senior academics, but influenced by saleability as well as service |
| 3 | Preliminary negotiations with potential providers of operational resources | Undertaken by senior academics, but with a commitment to in-house performance or controlled outsourcing by the publisher |
| 4 | Preliminary negotiations with potential providers of infrastructure | Undertaken by senior academics, but with a commitment to in-house performance or controlled outsourcing by the publisher |
| 5 | Acquisition of investment and working capital | Undertaken by either senior academics or senior executives, but with a commitment to in-house performance or controlled outsourcing by the publisher |
| 6 | Appointment of Board, Editor and Editorial Committee(s) | Undertaken by senior academics |
| 7 | Accumulation of Referees List | Undertaken by senior academics |
| 8 | Acquisition of infrastructure | Undertaken by senior executives, and with a commitment to the publisher's infrastructure, and with the Web-site run using sophisticated and expensive tools. Allocated share of infrastructure worth millions – say $50,000 |
| 9 | Acquisition of operational resources | Undertaken by senior executives, and with a commitment to the publisher's infrastructure, and with the Web-site run using sophisticated and expensive tools. 1-2 staff weeks – say $5,000 |
| 10 | Acquisition of intellectual property (logos, trademarks, copyrights, licences) | Undertaken by senior executives, with emphasis on branding and
content-protection as well as service. 2-4 staff-weeks – say $10,000 |
| 11 | Preparation of formal components of the printed journal and web-site | Undertaken by senior executives and staff. 1-2 staff-weeks – say $5,000 |
| 12 | Preparation of web-site | Supervised by senior executives, and undertaken by staff, but with
emphasis on branding and content-protection as well as service. 1-2 staff-weeks – say $5,000 |
| 13 | Announcement to the community | Undertaken by senior academics, and marketed by senior executives and
staff. 1-2 staff-weeks – say $5,000 |
| 14 | Issue of initial calls for papers | Undertaken by senior academics |
1 | Receipt, acknowledgement and management | Editor, Editorial Committee and Referees, supported by a
paid assistant, and possibly also by junior academics or students.
$10,000 p.a., equivalent to $2,500 per Issue or $330 per article |
| 2 | Conduct and management of the assessment process | Editor, Editorial Committee and Referees, generally gratis, but possibly with an honorarium for the Editor, and possibly allowances, free advertising or similar partial recompense. $5,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,250 per Issue |
1 | Production-editing | By the publisher's professional staff or contractors,
requiring 0.1 EFT p.a. $10,000 p.a., equivalent to $2,500 per Issue |
| 2 | Cataloguing | By the publisher's professional staff or contractors, but included in the time for Production-editing, immediately above |
1 | Editorial | Effort by the Editor |
| 2 | Production-editing | By the publisher's professional staff or contractors. $1,000 per issue, equivalent to $4,000 p.a. |
| 3 | Production | For hard-copy issues, by an outsourced service provider. Assuming 1,000 copies per Issue and $5.00 per tome, then $20,000 p.a., equivalent to $5,000 per Issue For the Web-site, by the publisher's professional staff or contractors $5,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,250 per Issue |
| 4 | Protection | By the publisher's professional staff or contractors. $10,000 p.a. |
| 5 | Distribution | For hard-copy issues, by an outsourced service provider Assuming 1,000 copies per Issue, then $5,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,250 per Issue |
1 | Marketing | Substantial, undertaken primarily by the publisher's
staff. $10,000 p.a., equivalent to $2,500 per Issue |
| 2 | Customer relationship management | Substantial, undertaken by the publisher's staff. $10,000 p.a., equivalent to $2,500 per Issue |
| 3 | Archive management | Undertaken by the publisher's staff. $5,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,250 per Issue |
| 4 | Indexing | Undertaken by the publisher's staff. $5,000 p.a., equivalent to $1,250 per Issue |
| 5 | Governance | Undertaken by the Editor and Editorial Committee, with some limited support from publisher executives and staff |
1 | Editor and Editorial Committee(s) | Undertaken by senior academics |
| 2 | A pool of referees | Undertaken by senior academics |
| 3 | Communications channels | Arranged by senior academics, supported by junior academics or students |
| 4 | Norms for communications and formatting | Undertaken by senior academics |
| 5 | Production facilities | Undertaken by the publisher's senior executives and staff. Covered by treating the amortised establishment costs as an ongoing annual figure | 6 | Subscription-list facilities | Undertaken by the publisher's senior executives and staff. Covered by treating the amortised establishment costs as an ongoing annual figure |
| 7 | Distribution mechanisms | Undertaken by the publisher's senior executives and staff. Covered by treating the amortised establishment costs as an ongoing annual figure |
1 | Interest on investment capital | $100,000 Establishment Costs, at a rate of 5% basic plus a risk factor of 10%. $15,000 p.a., equivalent to $3,750 per Issue |
| 2 | Interest on working capital | 1/6th of annual turnover of $124,000, at a rate of 5% basic plus a
risk factor of 10%. $3,000 p.a., equivalent to $750 per Issue |
| Establishment | $100,000, amortised over 5 years = $20,000 p.a., equivalent to $5,000 per Issue |
| Operations – Submission-Related | $15,000 p.a., equivalent to $3,750 per Issue |
| Operations – Article-Related | $10,000 p.a., equivalent to $2,500 per Issue |
| Operations – Issue-Related | $44,000 p.a., equivalent to $11,000 per Issue |
| Operations – Generic | $30,000 p.a., equivalent to $7,500 per Issue |
| Infrastructure Maintenance | Covered in the Establishment Cost calculation |
| Financial | $18,000 p.a., equivalent to $4,500 per Issue |
| TOTAL | $137,000 p.a., $34,250 per Issue. For an eJournal only:
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With a subscription-based revenue model, the publisher is dependent upon attracting sufficient subscribers. In the case of a print-journal, an average subscription rate of $300 p.a. (e.g. one-third individuals @ $100 and two-thirds institutions @ $400), would require 460 subscribers to reach breakeven. An eJournal only, at the same subscription-rates, would need only 375 subscribers.
Some journals have, or develop, sufficient reputation that the publisher is able to exploit its monopoly position; but many journals do not. Other avenues through which for-profit publishers can enhance revenue include differential services for various market-segments, and non-availability of particular journals other than within bundles of multiple journals.
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