1. The OSA Publishing Enterprise: Some Facts, Figures, and Economics Ted Bergstrom

2. Good News In 2008 OSA published 6 of the 12 top optics journals as measured either by citations or eigenfactor. Total subscriptions to OSA journals have increased since 2004. Net Revenue has increased by 21%, compared to CPI increase of 14% since 2004. Number of pages published more than doubled. – Growth comes from open access, Optics Express. Pages in traditional journals unchanged.

3. More Good News Optics Express, the open access journal founded in 1997 has been a smashing success. In 2008, OE supplies 59% of OSA pages, 31% of OSA citations, and 25% of OSA profits.

4. Rankings of Optics Journals Rank by Imp Factor Rank by Art Inf Factor R ank by 5 yr Citations Rank by Eigenfactor Optics Express 3542 Optics Letters 4623 Applied Optics 182035 J. Ltwave Tech 8986 JOSA B 11 109 JOSA A 1614912 Applied Spec 15191319

5. Primer on Bibliometrics Impact factor vs Citation Counts – Impact factor of journal is average number of citations per article in first 3 years. Measure of average influence of articles May be appropriate for guessing future importance of an article without bothering to read it. Highly unreliable predictor of that. – Citation count is number of times during given year that most recent 5 years’ volumes are cited. A more reasonable measure of usefulness of a journal to a library.

6. Eigenfactor and Article Influence Eigenfactor is a refinement of citation counts. – Citations from more frequently cited journals count for more. – Calculated recursively, similar idea to Google PageRank. Fictitious researcher Markov process Goes to library, picks a journal at random. Chooses a citation at random, goes to that journal, continues forever. Fraction of time he spends at a journal is that journal’s eigenfactor.

7. Article influence factor A journal’s A.I.F. is proportional to its eigenfactor divided by the number of articles published per year in this journal. A.I.F. is to eigenfactor as impact factor is to citation counts.

8. Relative Bang Per Cite (ratio of relative eigenfactor to relative citation count) Eigenfactor/Cite J. Lightwave Technology1.26 Optics Express1.11 JOSA A1.03 JOSA B1.03 Applied Optics0.94 Optics Letters0.94 Average Elsevier Optics J.0.86

9. Subscription Trends for 4 Main OSA Journals and InfoBase Institutional Subscriptions 2004 Institutional Subscriptions 2009 Percent change US and Canada 571507-11 Western Europe 3603837 E. Asia, Oceania 3994328 Rest of World 93395326

10. Subscriptions, Revenue and Downloads Share of Subscriptions Share of Revenue Share of Downloads U.S. and Canada 0.290.380.57 Western Europe 0.230.270.17 East Asia, Oceania 0.250.290.21 Rest of World 0.220.070.05

11. Country by Country Share of Subscription Revenue Share of Downloads China 0.080.10 Japan 0.120.04 Germany 0.070.04 U.K. 0.040.03 France 0.050.03 Taiwan 0.030.02 India 0.020.01

12. Subs at U.S. Academic Institutions Number of Institutions Percent with at least 1 OSA Journal Percent with 4 Main OSA Journals Revenue from this Group Doctoral I1519781$1,485,496 Doctoral II1086026$462,960 Masters I493175$391,354 Masters II11142$6,010 Bachelors I223248$257,394 Bachelors II31954X Associates153711X

13. Value Comparison with Elsevier Price/ Page Price/ Cite Price/ Eigenfactor Applied Optics$0.50$0.68$55,672 JOSA A$0.58$0.86$63,963 JOSA B$0.85$0.67$49,762 Optics Letters$0.65$0.18$14,246 Elsevier$1.89$2.12$194,512

14. What about profits? OSA subscription journals cost about 1/3 as much per page as Elsevier’s optics-related journals. How do their profit rates compare? – OSA ‘s ratio of profits to sales is about 40% – Elsevier reports profits to sales ratio of 33% Rent Dissipation Theory – Much of monopoly “profit” gets spent on protecting monopoly. Lobbyists, Lawyers, etc. – Some goes to overpaid executives – Some is hidden in less profitable parts of enterprise.

15. Do OSA journals outsell Elsevier in the “marginal” part of the market? We looked at a random sample of 17 Doctoral II universities. Elsevier optics journals averaged 12 subscriptions from this group. Optics Letters and Applied Optics averaged 10 Even though OL an AO cost less than 1/3 as much per page or cite. Elsevier sells huge multi-disciplinary bundles and price discriminates on historic sales. OSA probably could do better in this market with targeted pricing.

16. A Tougher Standard Price Per PagePrice Per Cite Applied Optics$0.50$0.68 JOSA A$0.58$0.86 JOSA B$0.85$0.67 Optics Letters$0.65$0.18 APS Journals$0.22$0.12 AIP Journals$0.46$0.21 SPIE Journals$0.17$0.50 IOP Journals$0.71$1.18

17. How much should OSA pubs subsidize other society activities? OSA made profit of almost $5 million on $11 million revenue—45%. Not for me to answer, but for you to consider – You might want to ask whether attendance at conferences is more price elastic than subscriptions to pubs. Hence need subsidization. – Or is it just a matter of getting money from university budgets that would otherwise go elsewhere.

18. Optics Express in 2008 Author charges: – $1,585 for 7-15 pages – $925 for 1-6 pages About 2,300 articles published Average revenue per paper $1,252 Average cost per paper: $570

19. Optics Express Costs/Article and Scale

20. Open Access Author Charges Author Charge Optics Express$1,252 (average) New Journal of Physics (IOP)$1,200 APS (Open Access Option)$975 ACS (Open Access Option)$1,000 NAS(Open Access Option)$800 PLOS Journals$1,300, $2,250, $2,900 Biomed Central$1,700-$2,300 Elsevier, Springer (Open Access Option ) $3,000+ Hindawi Journals$250-$700

21. Growth of OSA offerings Pages in 2002Pages in 2008 Top 4 Subscription J’s 15,488 15,250 Optics Express 1,626 22,128 Total 17,114 37,148 New in 2009 : Advances in Optics and Photonics Building on Success: Three New Open Access Journals Planned: with “Express” branding

22. Production Costs of OSA Journals Number of Articles Cost per Article (excluding print costs) Pages per Article Applied Optics1,027$2,7916.7 JOSA A355 $3,6858.9 JOSA B334$3,5966.4 Optics Letters1,006$1,4933.0 Optics Express2,322$5749.5

23. OhioLink: A Natural Experiment How can we tell how much use current non- subscribers would make of InfoBase if they had it? Selection bias: We can only observe use by current subscribers, but these are the places that have most interest in optics (even controlling for size and Carnegie class). OhioLInk provides some evidence.

24. The data Almost every university and community college in Ohio participates in OhioLInk. Since 2005, all OhioLink members have had access to InfoBase. In 2002, there was no OhioLink contract with OSA. We have data on downloads from OSA journals by each OhioLink participant.

25. Downloads in 08-09 by OhioLink Institutions Number of Institutions Number with 4+ OSA subs in 2002 Number with 1-3 OSA subs in 2002 Number of Downloads in 2008-09 Doctoral I66632,058 Doctoral II6668,693 Masters1320324 Bachelors2221257 Community Colleges 1200238

26. Downloads from Ohio in 08-09 98% of downloads are from universities that subscribed to all 4 major OSA journals in 2002 Total of 444 downloads from institutions that had no OSA subscriptions in 2002 (about 1%) 228 downloads from community colleges Conclusion? – Not much extra usage from masters and bachelors institutions – Some usage from community colleges – No evidence about Carnegie II

27. Pricing Strategies Issues to Consider Objectives – Maintain revenue – Increase Exposure Price Discrimination – Tiered Pricing – Consortial Deals – Pricing based on historical subscriptions Bundling Rationalize Revenue Sharing Rationalize and Simplify Print Pricing

28. Had Enough? OK, I’m Done