What are alternative publishing models?
Scientists have traditionally shared the results of their research through journals published variously by universities, scholarly and scientific societies, and commercial publishers. In recent years, an increasing number of voices have been heard expressing concerns about the rising number and cost of scholarly journals, increasing delays from article submission to publication, and diminished access resulting from subscription cancellations by libraries. Alternative publishing models address these issues by creating options to the traditional publishing system, and include low-cost journals published by scholarly societies or communities, online repositories such as the University of Californias eScholarship, and open access journals that may be supported by university or foundation funds. Most of these models are still evolving.
