02-20-2013, 07:12 AM
I've been wrestling with options for bringing the Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies back to life and the three options in the poll reflect my current thinking.
Traditional
As before, a dead-tree (paperback) JRMES is published once a year for which you pay a subscription (possibly upfront, as opposed to after publication as used to happen, to get over me personally always having to stump up the cash for production and almost inevitably losing out on the deal).
Hybrid
An open-access model that costs nothing to read online but provides a dead-tree version for those who like (or need, if a library) The Book As Artefact and are willing to pay for it. If enough (probably >200) were interested this might be traditional (high-quality) offset litho printed, if only a few, then lower quality Print On Demand (POD).
Digital
An open-access model that costs nothing to read online and has no dead-tree version. There is of course no such thing as a free lunch, so if you want this, you have to suggest a payment model that covers production costs (just because trees are not felled does not make it free to produce; there are server costs, postage (not all contributors may have internet access), and so on and so forth).
For the second two options, a subscription model could be used to provide delayed open access (e.g. you pay $10 a year to see everything, or nothing to see everything from five years ago and older). Alternatively, a donation system like Flattr might work (although I have my doubts, pessimist that I am), or even advertising (but I am as sceptical as for donations and somebody would have to be paid to sell advertising). Incidentally, I would not favour an article-processing charge (APC) for authors as that would limit submissions from those without institutional funding (such as re-enactors) and run against the whole ethos of ROMEC and JRMES.
So, if you want JRMES back, in what form do you want to see it?
Mike Bishop
Traditional
As before, a dead-tree (paperback) JRMES is published once a year for which you pay a subscription (possibly upfront, as opposed to after publication as used to happen, to get over me personally always having to stump up the cash for production and almost inevitably losing out on the deal).
Hybrid
An open-access model that costs nothing to read online but provides a dead-tree version for those who like (or need, if a library) The Book As Artefact and are willing to pay for it. If enough (probably >200) were interested this might be traditional (high-quality) offset litho printed, if only a few, then lower quality Print On Demand (POD).
Digital
An open-access model that costs nothing to read online and has no dead-tree version. There is of course no such thing as a free lunch, so if you want this, you have to suggest a payment model that covers production costs (just because trees are not felled does not make it free to produce; there are server costs, postage (not all contributors may have internet access), and so on and so forth).
For the second two options, a subscription model could be used to provide delayed open access (e.g. you pay $10 a year to see everything, or nothing to see everything from five years ago and older). Alternatively, a donation system like Flattr might work (although I have my doubts, pessimist that I am), or even advertising (but I am as sceptical as for donations and somebody would have to be paid to sell advertising). Incidentally, I would not favour an article-processing charge (APC) for authors as that would limit submissions from those without institutional funding (such as re-enactors) and run against the whole ethos of ROMEC and JRMES.
So, if you want JRMES back, in what form do you want to see it?
Mike Bishop
