According to a recent industry report from Simba Information, Article Processing Charges (APCs) – the fees that publishers collect from authors for making their work available under “Open Access” rules – are expected to grow 80% from 2014 to 2017. Indeed, the report projects OA publishing revenues will rise at a pace far faster than traditional publishing.

Clearly, OA is here to stay. And the disruption that Open Access has generated has publishers rethinking business models and turning to technology for solutions.

In a pair of recent posts to the Scholarly Kitchen blog, Joseph Esposito unpacks the Simba data to uncover the business significance of Open Access to publishing. Importantly, he finds reason to believe that OA will help the business of scholarly and scientific publishing to grow in coming years. As he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally, Open Access has evolved over the last decade, moving away from its “Woodstock” origins toward a model that Wall Street would recognize.

By Simba’s reckoning, says Esposito, “OA is approximately 2.3% of the total journals market… That’s a big or small number depending on where you started from. With my personal bias in favor of new things, I see it as a huge number. Building a start-up is simply harder than running established companies.”

A management consultant working primarily in the world of digital media, software, and publishing. Joseph Esposito is particularly focused on research publishing, especially with the migration to digital services from a print background. Previously, Joe served as CEO of three companies (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Tribal Voice, and SRI Consulting), and has received grants from the Mellon, MacArthur, and Hewlett Foundations, all concerning research into new aspects of publishing. In addition, Esposito is author of more than 200 posts to The Scholarly Kitchen blog.

Joining Esposito is Richard Wynne, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Aries Systems Corporation, who offers insights on Open Access as a business and what that means for scholarly publishers.

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