Comparing Institutional Membership to Per-Article Payment in an Open Access Model

Abstract

Is it cheaper in an Open Access producer-pays model to take an institutional membership over paying per article published? The results of this analysis of two research institutions suggests that institutions could save money if they paid by the article. This study looked at Cornell University and Yale University, both institutional members of BioMed Central and compared the number of article published in 2004 to the amount their institutions paid for membership. In both cases, each institution could have saved money if they simply paid their author?s publication fees.