Societies

Start a society journal

Encouraging the publication of research in open access journals is the obvious way for scholarly societies to help advance knowledge in their respective fields. BioMed Central enables societies to set up their own open access journals, or convert existing journals to open access, at no cost. The set-up process for a new journal is the same as outlined on our general page Starting an independent journal, the only difference being that Editors-in-Chief of society journals sign on behalf of the society. Several societies have already taken advantage of our independent journals programme; read about their experiences in our societies case studies.

Financial considerations

By definition, open access journals have no subscription charges. BioMed Central's journals cover their costs through article processing charges (APCs) in order to be able to give worldwide barrier-free access to the full content. For society journals, APCs are the sum of the Publisher's Charge, the basic rate that BioMed Central needs to operate, plus an optional surcharge that societies can levy to cover costs on their part. Societies can allow members to be given the right to publish without charges or at reduced rates, for example through BioMed Central's membership scheme whereby the Publisher's Charge is paid, in full or partially, out of membership dues.

Why societies need open access journals

The rationale for a society to have a journal may be the same as it ever was, but internet technology and its economic implications are bringing dramatic changes to the publishing landscape. In the past, some larger societies generated revenue through their journals to subsidise other activities, although subscription-based revenues seem increasingly at risk. On the other hand, smaller societies either haven't had the financial wherewithal to run a journal or have had to pay a publisher to produce their journal. Under the circumstances that prevail now, societies of all sizes have good reasons to start open access journals or to convert subscription-based ones to an open access publishing model.

Not only does an open access journal give worldwide visibility to the society and its activities, it also offers a natural place for publishing the proceedings and abstracts of the society's scientific meetings as supplements (which, like all our journals' content, are routinely indexed by PubMed). In this way, the journal can act as a communication forum for issues of importance to the relevant community, far beyond the society's current membership, and can potentially attract further members. In short, having an open access journal is an excellent way for a society to fulfill its mission of furthering knowledge in its field.

Please contact independentjournals@biomedcentral.com for more detailed information.