About the debate on Open Access, which distracts us from the real crisis in journals -- exorbitant prices.Journals publishing is in crisis. For years, subscription prices have increased rapidly, often at annual double-digit rates. Prices for some journals have tripled in the past ten years, and the average increase is now close to ten percent. The budgets of university libraries have fallen far behind, forcing librarians to cancel subscriptions. Publishers have used declining subscriptions as a rationale to increase prices even more. And the literature has expanded, creating fatter journals (and yet more reasons for publishers to increase prices). Scholars and librarians have become increasingly unhappy about the state of affairs, and they demand action.
So what action do they suggest? They want to change the way in which publishers collect the money. Go figure. Instead of collecting money through subscriptions, they plan to charge authors a fee — perhaps $1,500 per article (although higher amounts are suggested). We are told that the real problem is access to information, and that we should focus our attention on making material more accessible. Magicians call this technique misdirection, and it's at the heart of all tricks. Are open access advocates really trying to trick everyone?
No—this misdirection is caused by a mistake.
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