New publisher announces new OA business model

A new open-access academic publisher has launched with the novel business model of 'pay once, publish for life'.  PeerJ promises to publish a broad based, rapid, peer-reviewed journal (PeerJ) and what it describes as an 'innovative preprint server' (PeerJ PrePrints).

PeerJ will open for submissions in Summer 2012, and will publish its first articles in December 2012.

'PeerJ significantly moves the needle towards universal open-access publishing for all academics,' commented Peter Binfield, co-founder and publisher of PeerJ. 'We provide authors with publication at an affordable price, starting at just $99 for life; an inclusive venue in which to publish their peer-reviewed research; and an innovative and dynamic approach towards academic publishing in the internet era.'

Jason Hoyt, co-founder and CEO, added that: 'PeerJ will innovate in everything it does and will set new standards for both the publishing experience and the dissemination of research. We will go beyond publishing by building tools to be open sourced back to the academics who make PeerJ possible, as well as to interested developers.'

Three membership plans exist - Basic, Enhanced and Investigator. All member plans confer lifetime rights, and the three tiers allow members to publish once, twice, or an unlimited number of times per year in PeerJ. Each author on a paper must be a member and the Basic membership plan is just $99. 

Funding for PeerJ has come from a partnership between O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV) and O’Reilly Media. Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media and an Open Source leader, will join the governing Board of PeerJ.