Springer OpenChoice: Why?

Just came across the OpenChoice program of Springer Verlag:

Springer Open Choice gives you the power to choose how you want your research published. As an author-focused publishing company, Springer believes that authors should have the right to determine what publication model best meets their needs.

Springer Open Choice is exactly what it says: a choice. What works best for you? If free publication, supporting a pressure-free editorial process, and free online availability are important to you, then you need only submit your article to any Springer journal. Springer’s ‘green’ self-archiving policy lets authors post their own versions of their accepted article on an institution’s public server, and subscription-based publication ensures that authors all over the world have equal opportunity at publication and a peer review process free from commercial pressure.

If making the published version of your article freely available is your most important publication concern, then Springer Open Choice is the solution for you. Springer Open Choice makes the final, published version of the article available for free directly from SpringerLink. You still receive all the benefits of publication with Springer (see “Details” for a full listing), including print distribution, and your work will be available for free from Springer to anyone, anywhere in the world.

Sounds good. Let’s make the published version of my paper available for free to anyone. Oh, you say you’re going to charge me a whopping $3,000 for that? Never mind then. I’ll just take advantage of the ‘green’ self-archiving policy, thank you very much.

Why would anyone do that? And what is it with all that talk about commerical pressure on the peer review process? Is Springer going to only accept papers that they get enough copyright fee revenue from? Are they going to ditch their low-impact journals? What gives?

One thought on “Springer OpenChoice: Why?

  1. Nothing to complain about. Still you’re in America.Customers providing payment from the Americas will be charged in US dollars, and customers providing payment from Europe, Africa, and Asia will be charged in Euros. VAT is not included in the $3,000 price and will be added, at a standard rate, for customers who receive invoices in Euros.  Posted by Rafal

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