Funding Independent Scientific Publications: The Third Option

Abstract

The existing “Triple-Pay” model for funding scientific publications faces widespread criticism due to the significant financial burden it places on researchers, institutions, and the taxpayers.¹,² In this model, research funding agencies provide grants to conduct research, indirectly compensate the peer review process, and subsequently pay publishers through substantial subscription fees to access the published research. This consumes up to 25% of the funds allocated for research and places a significant economic strain on the academic community while disproportionately benefiting major publishing conglomerates.²,³ Since it was first introduced in 1930 by the American Physical Society at $2 per page, the cost of scientific publishing has escalated considerably, exceeding $12,000 per article, with publishers such as Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, and SAGE controlling a vast portion of the academic output.⁴,⁵ These big publishers were accused of leveraging their dominance to impose high subscription fees upon institutions, authors, and readers.²