Price transparency: let’s make it simple

Abstract

Hybrid and subscription journals are a persistent feature of the scholarly communication landscape. Pricing for such journals, however, is based on old print rates and associated with above-inflation price increases, a lack of transparency and concerns about double-dipping. This article proposes that paywalled content be repriced based on a fixed fee per paywalled article. This proposed nominal read fee offers simple, transparent pricing that eliminates the opportunity for double-dipping.