Editing Academic journal (section)

==Costs==
{{main|Academic publishing#Publishers and business aspects|l1 = }}

Many academic journals are [[subsidy|subsidized]] by universities or professional organizations, and do not exist to make a profit. They often accept advertising, page and image charges from authors to pay for production costs. On the other hand, some journals are produced by commercial publishers who do make a profit by charging subscriptions to individuals and libraries. They may also sell all of their journals in discipline-specific collections or a variety of other packages.<ref name="Bergstrom-2001">{{Cite journal
 |author1=Theodore C. Bergstrom
 |year=2001
 |title=Free Labor for Costly Journals?
 |journal=[[Journal of Economic Perspectives]]
 |volume=15
 |issue=3
 |pages=183–98
 |doi=10.1257/jep.15.4.183
 |s2cid=8593095
 |url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1wf0r099
 |access-date=2019-01-12
 |archive-date=2022-08-19
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819045742/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1wf0r099
 |url-status=live
 |doi-access=free
 }}</ref> Many scientists and librarians have long protested these costs, especially as they see these payments going to large for-profit publishing houses.<ref name="mmmonline2">{{Cite web |last=Weinstein |first=Deborah |date=1 Feb 2012 |title=Elsevier begins outreach as push-back on publisher threatens to widen |url=https://www.mmm-online.com/channel/elsevier-begins-outreach-as-push-back-on-publisher-threatens-to-widen/article/225855/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215023645/https://www.mmm-online.com/channel/elsevier-begins-outreach-as-push-back-on-publisher-threatens-to-widen/article/225855/ |archive-date=2018-02-15 |website=MM&M}}</ref> To allow their researchers online access to journals, many universities purchase ''site licenses'', permitting access from anywhere in the university, and, with appropriate authorization, by university-affiliated users at home or elsewhere. These may be much more expensive than the cost for a print subscription. Despite the transition to electronic publishing, the costs of site licenses continue to rise relative to universities' budgets.  This is known as the ''[[serials crisis]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sample |first=Ian |date=24 April 2012 |title=Harvard University says it can't afford journal publishers' prices |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/apr/24/harvard-university-journal-publishers-prices |url-status=live |journal=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207164109/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/apr/24/harvard-university-journal-publishers-prices |archive-date=7 December 2016}}</ref>

Journal editors tend to have other professional responsibilities, most often as teaching professors. In the case of the largest journals, there are paid staff assisting in the editing. The production of the journals is almost always done by publisher-paid staff. Humanities and social science academic journals are usually subsidized by universities or professional organization.<ref>
{{cite book |last1=Day |first1=Robert A. |title=How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper |last2=Gastel |first2=Barbara |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-313-39195-8 |edition=7th |pages=122–124}}</ref>

Traditional scientific journals require a paid subscription to access published articles.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Van Noorden |first1=Richard |date=March 2013 |title=Open access: The true cost of science publishing |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/495426a |journal=Nature |volume=495 |issue=7442 |pages=426–429 |bibcode=2013Natur.495..426V |doi=10.1038/495426a |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>

The cost and value proposition of subscription to academic journals is being continuously re-assessed by institutions worldwide. In the context of the [[big deal (subscription model)|big deal]] cancellations by several library systems in the world,<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Andrés|last1=Fernández-Ramos|first2=María Blanca|last2=Rodríguez Bravo|first3=María Luisa|last3=Alvite Díez|first4=Lourdes|last4=Santos de Paz|title=Evolution of the big deals use in the public universities of the Castile and Leon region, Spain = Evolución del uso de los big deals en las universidades públicas de Castilla y León|url=https://buleria.unileon.es/handle/10612/11498|journal=El Profesional de la Información|date=2019|volume=28|issue=6|doi=10.3145/epi.2019.nov.19|first5=María Antonia|last5=Morán Suárez|first6=Josefa|last6=Gallego Lorenzo|first7=Isabel|last7=Olea Merino|language=es|doi-access=free|access-date=2020-04-25|archive-date=2020-09-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927145344/https://buleria.unileon.es/handle/10612/11498|url-status=live|hdl=10612/11498|hdl-access=free}}</ref> data analysis tools like [[Unpaywall Journals]] are used by libraries to estimate the specific cost and value of the various options: libraries can avoid subscriptions for materials already served by instant [[open access]] via [[open archive]]s like PubMed Central.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-04-18|title=SUNY Negotiates New, Modified Agreement with Elsevier - Libraries News Center University at Buffalo Libraries|url=https://library.buffalo.edu/news/2020/04/07/suny-negotiates-new-modified-agreement-with-elsevier/|website=library.buffalo.edu|author=Denise Wolfe|publisher=[[University at Buffalo]]|date=2020-04-07|archive-date=2020-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206111125/https://library.buffalo.edu/news/2020/04/07/suny-negotiates-new-modified-agreement-with-elsevier/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Concerns about cost and open access have led to the creation of free-access journals such as the [[Public Library of Science]] (PLoS) family and partly open or reduced-cost journals such as the ''[[Journal of High Energy Physics]]''. However, professional editors still have to be paid, and PLoS still relies heavily on donations from foundations to cover the majority of its operating costs; smaller journals do not often have access to such resources.{{cn|date=March 2025}} Open access journals may charge authors a fee for review or publication, rather than charging a readers a fee for access.<ref name="mmmonline">{{Cite web |last=Weinstein |first=Deborah |date=1 Feb 2012 |title=Elsevier begins outreach as push-back on publisher threatens to widen |url=https://www.mmm-online.com/channel/elsevier-begins-outreach-as-push-back-on-publisher-threatens-to-widen/article/225855/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215023645/https://www.mmm-online.com/channel/elsevier-begins-outreach-as-push-back-on-publisher-threatens-to-widen/article/225855/ |archive-date=2018-02-15 |website=MM&M}}</ref>