Comment Authors paying to publish is common (Score 3, Insightful) 208
In many fields (Astronomy, Physics, Math) it is standard practice for authors to pay page charges (often about $100 per page) to publish their articles. (Of course, in these fields most journals don't have any advertisements.) I see nothing unethical about it.
The obvious question is why should an author pay to print the article when they can post a pdf on their website or an online archive (such as arxiv.org). The answer is that scientists are judged (i.e., hired, tenured, promoted, etc.) based on their refereed publications. Posting the same things on your website will get you only a small fraction of the "credit". There are some exceptions (e.g., if you make a particularly important discovery), but from the scientist's point of view, why risk it? It's much safer to pay the ~$1000 page charges.
Personally, I wish that departments would recognize how much money could be saved if they were to stop using refereed publications as the primary criteria for judging their members.
The obvious question is why should an author pay to print the article when they can post a pdf on their website or an online archive (such as arxiv.org). The answer is that scientists are judged (i.e., hired, tenured, promoted, etc.) based on their refereed publications. Posting the same things on your website will get you only a small fraction of the "credit". There are some exceptions (e.g., if you make a particularly important discovery), but from the scientist's point of view, why risk it? It's much safer to pay the ~$1000 page charges.
Personally, I wish that departments would recognize how much money could be saved if they were to stop using refereed publications as the primary criteria for judging their members.
