A journal is a club: a new economic model for scholarly publishing. (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Potts, Jason; Hartley, John; Montgomery, Lucy; Neylon, Cameron; Rennie, Ellie
• Is Part Of: Prometheus. Volume 35:Number 1(2017)
• Page Start: 75
• Page End: 92
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Technological innovations -- Periodicals; Information science -- Economic aspects -- Periodicals; Communication -- Periodicals; Science and state -- Periodicals; Technology -- Australia -- Periodicals; 303
• DOI: 10.1080/08109028.2017.1386949
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0810-9028

Abstract

Abstract: A new economic model for the analysis of scholarly publishing – journal publishing in particular – is proposed that draws on club theory. The standard approach builds on market failure in the private production (by research scholars) of a public good (new scholarly knowledge). In this model, publishing is communication, as the dissemination of information. But a club model views publishing differently: namely as group formation, where members form groups in order to confer externalities on each other, subject to congestion. A journal is a self-constituted group, endeavouring to create new knowledge. In this sense, a journal is a club. The knowledge club model of a journal seeks to balance the positive externalities of a shared resource (readers, citations, referees) against the negative externalities of crowding (decreased prospect of publishing in that journal). A new economic model of a journal as a knowledge club is elaborated. We suggest some consequences for the management of journals and financial models that might be developed to support them.