[zakk]

That's incredibly stupid. The publishing of scientific papers has a cost, in terms of editorial service, proofreading, typesetting.

This cost will be paid by scientists, rather than by the readers. In other words, the papers will be free to read, but won't be free to publish.

I know as a fact that smaller research groups struggle to pay current publishing fees, and as a matter of fact the EU decision will increase them, making the situation worse.

[Faaak]

Have you actually published an article ?

Publishers now don't even do editorial service. They give you a template you must follow and the actual (free) reviewers tell you if you write good english or not.

[zakk]

I've published nine, the tenth is under review.

Whenever I published an article most often I got my references corrected, some grammar errors where spotted during the publishing process (I am not a native English speaker), also my articles are professionally typeset.

Maybe we work in different fields, don't assume your point of view automatically extends to every field of science.

[JohnStrange]

Sorry, perhaps this differs from field to field but at least in mine what you say is patently false.

Journals have no linguistic editing, no proofreading, and the typesetting is outsourced to India - at least Springer does so, as I know from personal interaction with the typesetters. Articles must be delivered more or less camera-ready according to the journal style. Editorial boards and all editors, as well as as reviewers work for free.

If you have a research group that actually pays for being published, then that's called "grey literature" or even worse, just plain self-publication, and it's worth nothing. It can even have a negative impact on your CV.

[zakk]

Your last sentence is completely false, at least as far as the physical sciences are concerned.

The most prestigious journals have a publication fee. I know for sure that Nature Communications has a pretty hefty fee, more than 5000$, google it. And, trust me, publishing there has a pretty positive impact on your CV.

The same concept applies to all open-access journals, including the most prestigious ones.

You may want to revise your definition of "grey literature".

[JohnStrange]

I'm in the humanities, where my last sentence was completely true.

The publication fee for Nature you mention is for open access, not for publishing. Open access fees are very expensive everywhere.

And no, my definition of grey literature is completely fine. Don't come to my university.

[zakk]

So don't assume that what applies to humanities applies to every research field.

As you may or may not know, on Nature Communications (and on many other journals of Nature Publishing Group) you can only publish open-access, so that's effectively a fee you have to pay to publish on Nature Communications.

You pay, you get your paper published. You don't pay it, your paper is not published.

As you see, your definition of grey literature includes one of the most prestigious journals in the physical sciences. Time to revise it! Better late than never!

> Don't come to my university.

If I do I hope that at least your colleagues will be able to see beyond their nose, and will know that what's standard in humanities may not be standard in other fields.

> Open access fees are very expensive everywhere.

Which is exactly my point. The EU announces that all papers will be free to read, so open access? Someone must pay. The price will be paid by research groups, smaller ones may not be able to sustain it.