NAR's full open access initiative is now in its fourth year. There is no question that during this period the greatest challenge has been to set author charges that are within the reach of authors’ hard-won funding, yet financially sustainable for the journal. This is a continued topic of discussion for NAR's editors and publishers. We are certainly aware that NAR authors have other choices when considering where to publish their work, and so it is important that we make NAR attractive to authors when they are making this important decision.
COST
There are many parameters to consider when deciding where to publish a piece of work, and cost is probably one of them for many authors. While referred to as ‘open access charges’, the NAR charges (Table 1) actually cover a range of publication costs, which are often charged for separately by other journals. For example, NAR does not apply additional submission fees, page charges for up to nine pages, colour or supplementary data charges, or charges for depositing in NIH or supplying a PDF version of the published article to authors. A recent review of other journals in this field suggests that the total costs of publishing may not always be dissimilar to publishing in NAR.
Table 1.
NAR open access charges 2008 (for papers of up to nine pages)
| Member institutions | Non-member institutions | |
|---|---|---|
| Regular authors | £685/$1335/€1025 | £1370/$2670/€2050 |
| Developing countries List B | £0 | £460 |
| Developing countries List A | £0 | £0 |
For example, if you were to publish an eight-page article with two colour figures, two half-tone figures and supplementary material in NAR in 2008, and were not eligible for a discounted rate, the total author charge would be USD 2670. If you were to publish the same article in PNAS, selecting the open access option as a non-member (at a rate of USD 1200), the total author charge would be in the region of USD 2600. Publishing the same paper under the JBC optional open access model would cost approximately USD 2800 as an ASBMB member and USD 3300 for non-ASBMB members. Publishing the paper under The EMBO Journal's open access option would cost approximately USD 4300 when all charges are factored in (Table 2).
Table 2.
Journal author charges, August 2008a
| Journal | Submission charge | Page charge | Figure charge | Optional open access charge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EMBO Journal | $0 | $250 for page 7 and over | $650 per colour figure up to three figures, then a sliding scale of charges | $2540 |
| Journal of Biological Chemistry | $60 | $75 per page $150 for page 10 and over | $300 per colour figure; $25 per half-tone | $1500 for ASBMB members; $2000 for non-members |
| Journal of Molecular Biology | $0 | $0 | $0 | $3000 |
| PNAS | $0 | $70 per page; $250 for supplementary material | $300 per colour figure | $1200 ($850 with institutional membership) |
| RNA | $0 | $50 per page; $25 per page if RNA Society member | $450 for first colour figure ($225 for RNA Society members); $350 per additional colour figure | $2000; $1500 for RNA Society members |
aAs shown in online instructions to authors.
Of course, authors can choose not to pay the open access charge for the above journals and publish under the normal subscription-based model instead, although for an increasing number of authors this decision may be strongly influenced by their funding bodies or institutions. The open access element of NAR's publication charge is mandatory, the choice we made when we adopted this alternative business model in 2005. In turn, authors can decide whether publishing in NAR warrants any additional costs, but it is certainly worth considering that page and colour charges alone in other journals may often reach the USD 1000–1500 range.
It is also important to note that authors are entitled to a 50% discount on the NAR open access charge if they are based at a member institution or have paid the full charge for another NAR paper in the last 12 months; we value the loyalty many of our authors show to the journal.
SPEED OF PUBLICATION AND POST-PUBLICATION SERVICES
We realize that cost is not the only factor that authors consider when deciding where to publish. Providing a fast, high-quality process for authors has always been a high priority for NAR, and it is firmly in our minds that you are paying for the service we offer. When publishing in NAR you can expect to receive:
Fair and fast peer review of your paper, with first decision times averaging 26 days.
Rapid online publication of the final version within 4 weeks of acceptance on average, and we continue to look for ways to make this process faster.
Immediate open access to all online users. The NAR site attracts over 380 000 full-text downloads per month, with a further 260 000 downloads per month via PubMed Central.
Automatic deposit of the final version of your article in PubMed Central and UK PubMed Central, assuring easy compliance with the policies of funders including HHMI, NIH, UK MRC and the Wellcome Trust.
Thank you for your continued support of NAR, and your comments are always welcome.
2007 IMPACT FACTOR OF 6.95 FOR NAR
NAR's 2007 impact factor was announced by ISI in June 2008. The new figure of 6.95 places NAR 29th of 263 journals in the ISI Biochemistry and Molecular Biology category.