Pay What You Want as a Pricing Model for Open Access Publishing?

Authors:

Spann, Martin (University of Munich)
Stich, Lucas (University of Munich)
Schmidt, Klaus M. (University of Munich)

Abstract:

We analyze ‘Pay What You Want’ as a business model for Open Access publishing by discussing motives leading authors to make voluntary contributions, potential benefits for publishers and present results from a field experiment at one publisher. Data from the field experiment indicate authors’ willingness to voluntarily contribute.

Keywords:

gold open access; article processing charges; customer-driven pricing; voluntary contributions; field experiment

JEL-Classification:

M31; D03; L11

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