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    Journal prices:

    In recent years, we as authors do the work of type-setting, refereeing, and serve as editors ... for free. Meanwhile, certain publishers charge for their journals at rates that seem completely disconnected with the value of their journal and the ability of the Mathematics Community to pay. I have decided to play a role in trying to correct this exploitation as follows: as I consider submitting to a journal, refereeing a submission for them, or serving as editor for them, I will (as time permits) add to the list below their annual institutional subscription price for the UK (as best as I can ascertain). This list carries no criticism, but I do urge colleagues everywhere to boycott those that they conclude do not provide value for money, and to support those that do seem to provide value for money. Ordered by price:

    Journal of Algebra (Elsevier), 7,833 euros (2010), approx £7,000

    Journal of Number Theory (Elsevier), 3,247 euros (2010), approx £2,840

    Monatshefte fuer Mathematik (Springer), 1,986 euros (2010), approx £1,737

    Compositio Mathematica (LMS), 1,200 euros (2009), approx £1,050

    Finite Fields and their Applications (Elsevier), 613 euros (2009), approx £536

    Acta Arithmetica (Polish Academy of Sciences), 580 euros (2009), approx £507

    Canadian J. Math., $788, approx £490

    International Journal of Number Theory (World Scientific), 409 euros (2010), approx £358

    Mathematics Research Letters, $480, approx £300

    Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society (CUP), approx 330 euros (2009), £289

    Glasgow Mathematical Journal (CUP), approx 190 euros (2009), £166

    J. Th. Nombres Bordeaux, 150 euros, approx £135

    Funct. et Approx., 100 euros, approx £90

    Those of us who value scientific research should strive for publication methods that (i) impose the lowest possible barriers to those who can publish excellent research, and (ii) impose the lowest possible barriers to those who can access published excellent research. At the same time, it is healthiest for our disciplines if (iii) the net out-flow of resources to for-profit publishers is minimised.

    I object to the model of "open-access" journals based on author publication fees, in that it creates a barrier to who can publish, and does little to address objective (iii). Even when special allowance is made for authors from disadvantaged nations, the author-pays model of open-access publication creates a rich-man's club of authors whose research is supposedly more highly valued solely because they can afford to pay to have it published. One has only to look at analogous situations elsewhere in the academic world (access to university education for disadvantaged students?) to understand that even the availability of "publication-fee waivers" does only so much to remedy the chilling psychological effects of presenting apparently insurmountable financial obstacles to publication.

    While I am keen to support any project in which the Mathematical Community manages its own publication needs in-house and achieves objectives (i), (ii) and (iii), my view for now is that publication-fee open-access publications do not make enough progress on opening access to merit support.

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