Q: My publisher will upload my manuscript to PubMed Central as required but also offered to post it immediately at the publisher web page for a fee of $1,500. Is there any advantage to paying the extra money?
A: It depends. How important is it for the scientific community to see your article without waiting for the print version or without other embargoes? If your article reports benchmark or ground breaking findings, it would be advantageous to pay the fee. If it's in your best interest to establish primacy of discovery, it would also be worthwhile to pay the fee. Anecdotal reports suggest few authors are choosing the immediate access option at present. For instance, In 2008, only 1% of the authors publishing in American Physiological Society journals chose immediate access.
[courtesy of Irving Zucker, Ph.D., APS Past President and Am. J. Physiol. Editorial Board Member]
