Pricing Transparency
In support of the aims of the Open Science community, Pluto Journals flipped its journals to Open Access in January 2021 in partnership with Knowledge Unlatched. As part of this, and in compliance with the requirements of cOAlition S and Plan S the following pricing breakdown is provided following the recommendations from the Fair Open Access Alliance.
The following breakdown is based on the latest available budget for Pluto Journals (2020).
Service Functions
Service buckets | Specify | % |
1. Journal operations | outsourced | 43% |
2. Publication | Outsourced | 35% |
3. Fees | Not applicable | Not applicable |
4. Communication | Outsourced | 3% |
5. General | In-house | 14% |
6. Surplus | 5% |
1. Journal Operations
These costs cover the running of the Pluto Journals platform, and also the hosting of the journals on the JSTOR platform, including all the charges that they make for registering DOIs, archiving, etc. Included within JSTOR costs is communication and outreach to librarians (see communication below).
2. Publication
These costs cover the actual production and publication of the journals, including editorial costs, copyediting, typesetting, proofreading and printed copy production and distribution.
3. Fees, discounts and waivers
Pluto Journals does not charge any author fees for publication or submission
4. Communication
These costs exclude marketing which is managed through JSTOR’s outreach to librarians and only include the direct costs incurred by Pluto Journals in outreach activities.
5. General
These costs include management and administration salaries, taxes and other administration and operational business costs.
6. Surplus
Any surplus generated by Pluto Journals is paid into the Pluto Educational Trust. This charity was founded in 2010 and supports a variety of organisations, projects and initiatives that share in its mission. Currently, these include Pluto Press, the Walter Rodney Programme @ PET, the Left Book Club, the Ameena Gafoor Institute and the Journal of Fair Trade. Pluto Journals is also supported by the Charity.
