A few things:
- AirBnB serves a significantly-larger infrastructure than a website hosting up PDFs. Github with Jekyll can do it.
- Software development is really at a minimum for journals. Hosting can be a static blog, and review infrastructure could literally be replaced with e-mailing PDFs / text files back and forth, and often devolves to that anyway.
- The editor of the JFP uses their university and external grant budgets to cover most, if not all, of their operating time and expenses.
- Legal is likely the largest cost (ensuring the journal has sole publication rights, and contracts to that effect), but open access can also simplify this.
- Without customers (e.g., open access), there is no need for customer support. HR and program management is a very small minimum, as well.
- Nobody involved in the actual journal work (editing, reviewing, etc.) is paid.
The cost of $1075 is, frankly, kind of absurd. What does it cost to host a PDF online forever? Volume 31 of the JFP published ~25 research articles, which would be ~$25k. When Github has the infrastructure to entirely eat the hosting cost, what justifies this much money?
- AirBnB serves a significantly-larger infrastructure than a website hosting up PDFs. Github with Jekyll can do it.
- Software development is really at a minimum for journals. Hosting can be a static blog, and review infrastructure could literally be replaced with e-mailing PDFs / text files back and forth, and often devolves to that anyway.
- The editor of the JFP uses their university and external grant budgets to cover most, if not all, of their operating time and expenses.
- Legal is likely the largest cost (ensuring the journal has sole publication rights, and contracts to that effect), but open access can also simplify this.
- Without customers (e.g., open access), there is no need for customer support. HR and program management is a very small minimum, as well.
- Nobody involved in the actual journal work (editing, reviewing, etc.) is paid.
The cost of $1075 is, frankly, kind of absurd. What does it cost to host a PDF online forever? Volume 31 of the JFP published ~25 research articles, which would be ~$25k. When Github has the infrastructure to entirely eat the hosting cost, what justifies this much money?