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Comment on Hindawi’s Profit Margin is Higher than Elsevier’s by janerikfrantsvag

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I think we need to keep a number of thoughts apart here, in order to make this a sensible discussion. The discussion about marketing has no relevance to the question raised about why aren’t we crying out about Hindawi’s extremely high profit margins. (Feel free to complain about Hindawi’s marketing practices, but why here?)

Hindawi’s profit margins are high by anyone’s standards, far higher than those of Elsevier. Some points: We should not lament publishers creating profits for themselves, our concern should be how they create margins and in what kind of market.

Elsevier create profits by reducing access to scientific content, Hindawi by enabling such access.

Elsevier mostly operate in a marked characterized by monopolistic competition, creating super-profits. Hindawi operate in a more competitive market, where the chances of super-profits are much smaller.

The reason Hindawi can make such huge profits, is the pricing of Elsevier and others in the non-competitive market. And Hindawi’s margins can be threatened by new entrants in the market; this is not a major risk for Elsevier. The risk for Elsevier lies in a transition to OA, which is more competitive and threatens profit margins.

We should bear in mind that Hindawi’s income per article is smaller than Elsevier’s profit per article.


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