Can journals like PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine be supported by publication fees alone?
Possibly not. These journals are run by professional editors, reject a large proportion of the submitted papers, and publish a great deal of added-value content. They are therefore very expensive to run, but they are also representative of only the top tier of scientific journals, which includes Nature, Science, and The New England Journal of Medicine – a tiny fraction of the full complement of scholarly journals. Publication fees provide an important revenue stream for PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine, but this is also supplemented with income from philanthropy, advertisers, sponsors, membership and other parts of the publishing operation.
Possibly not. These journals are run by professional editors, reject a large proportion of the submitted papers, and publish a great deal of added-value content. They are therefore very expensive to run, but they are also representative of only the top tier of scientific journals, which includes Nature, Science, and The New England Journal of Medicine – a tiny fraction of the full complement of scholarly journals. Publication fees provide an important revenue stream for PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine, but this is also supplemented with income from philanthropy, advertisers, sponsors, membership, and other parts of the publishing operation.