Technology and Scholarly Communication "d0e26165"

Appendix A Cost of a Small Math Journal

The production costs of the Pacific Journal of Mathematics³ have been examined by Kirby [1997]. This journal publishes 10 issues of about 200 pages each per year. A summary of its yearly costs is given in Table 25.1.

The PJM charges $275 per subscription and has about 1,000 subscribers. The journal also prints about 500 additional copies per year, which go to the sponsoring institutions in lieu of rent, secretarial support, office equipment, and so on.

The first-copy costs per page are about $64, while the variable cost per page printed and distributed is about 3.5 cents. The average article in this journal is about 20 pages long, which makes the first-copy cost per article about $1,280, somewhat smaller than the $2,000 figure in Tenopir and King [1996]. However, the PJM does not pay for space and for part of its secretarial support; adding in

― 414 ―

TABLE 25.1. Pacific Journal of Mathematics Yearly Costs
First-copy costs	typesetting and art	$64,200
	salary and overhead	64,000
	total FC	128,200
Variable costs	distribution	44,300
	printing and binding	60,500
	total VC	104,800
Miscellaneous	reprints	6,000
	electronic edition	10,000
	total misc.	16,000
Total costs		$249,000

these costs would reduce the difference. The cost of printing and distributing a 200-page issue is about $7 per issue, consistent with the figure used in this paper.

Research support from NSF grant SBR-9320481 is gratefully acknowledged.