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Navigating the Publishing Environment Guide

Types of Publishing Models

What is a Publishing Model?

A publishing model is how a publisher conducts their business. This includes but is not limited to how they solicit publications, conduct peer-review (if at all), and make money through fees, subscriptions, and licensing agreements.

There are three types of publishing models: Traditional Subscription Models, Open Access Models and Hybrid Models.

As a potential author, become familiar with the different types of publishing models available. This will allow you to make an informed decision when deciding where to submit your work to be published.

Visit each of the tabs above to learn more about Traditional, Open Access and Hybrid Publishing Models.

Below is a brief video that explains the different publishing models:  (For best results, watch on YouTube)

Traditional Subscription-Based Publishing Models:

  • The traditional publishing model relies on publishers charging subscription fees or individual article fees to individuals and libraries. This is where they make their profit. $
  • The publishing process in a traditional journal:
    • Author submits article to journal, usually for free
    • Editor decides if article is within scope of journal and if so, sends to peer-reviewers
    • Peer reviewers, usually unpaid, will determine if article is valid, relevant, or needs any correction or clarification
    • Author responds to any peer reviewer comments
    • Journal editor ultimately decides if article will be published or not
  • Not all traditional subscription-based publishers perform peer-review.

Open Access Publishers:

The term of "open access" was first used in 2001 in the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).

BOAI was created by an international group committed to making research articles freely available online.

BOAI's original definition of open access:

  • By “Open Access” to this [research] literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution and the only role for copyright in this domain should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited.

​Their definition of open access captures the purpose and intent of open access journals.

Watch the first 3 minutes 30 seconds of this video (will automatically stop at 3:30):

Hybrid Publishing Models:

Some journals allow for some level of open access license (green or gold licenses) to be applicable to individual articles

Some employ use of an "embargo period," which is a designated period of time that the publisher will charge for access to an article. Once the embargo period has passed, the article then become freely accessible.

View a brief video on the myths and facts of open access publishing. (For best results, watch on YouTube)

 

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Non-Mount Carmel organizations referenced on this website are identified for informational purposes only. Mount Carmel is not endorsing these organizations. The services these organizations provide, and the values or opinions they express, may not be consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church and the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. Mount Carmel makes no representations concerning the conduct or beliefs of these organizations.