Hybrid Open Access Journal - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages

One of the difficulties with "full" open-access journals, or the subset of them that charge author-side fees, is the difficulty of getting started. The publisher must be ready to take the risk of not having subscription income, in the hope that payments will materialize. But with a hybrid open-access journal, the publisher only provides open access to those articles for which the payment is made. To the extent the plan succeeds, the publisher has an adequate revenue stream from fees. To the extent that it fails, the publisher has an adequate revenue stream from subscriptions.