Author : Sumiko Asai
For-profit subscription journal publishers recently have extended their publishing range from subscription journals to numerous open access journals, thereby strengthening their presence in the open access journal market.
This study estimates the article processing charges for 509 medical open access journals using a sample selection model to examine the determinants of the charges.
The results show that publisher type tends to determine whether the journal charges an article processing charge as well as the level of the charge; and frequently cited journals generally set higher article processing charges. Moreover, large subscription journal publishers tend to set higher article processing charges for their open access journals after controlling for other factors.
Therefore, it is necessary to continue monitoring their activities from the viewpoint of competition policy.