Chapter 5: Economics
Obviously, one the biggest questions in regard to moving scholarship toward open access is the cost. Earlier in the book, Willinsky somewhat glosses over the issue by stating that “open access is not free access” (xii). In this chapter, Willinsky begins the discussion of cost by admitting that determining the cost of moving to an online journal cannot and has not been determined. Furthermore, in all cases, there is that “initial hurdle of setting up shop” (71).
In an attempt to convince journals and associations that an open source initiative could reduce “software design and development costs to zero” (72), Willinsky recommends, again, collaboration between libraries and the journals. Libraries already have the infrastructure necessary to support online journals, and open source software can be utilized to further develop infrastructures. One such open source project is Willinsky’s own Open Journal Systems, a project that provides software that can be easily “downloaded and installed on a local web server” and used with existing library infrastructures.