Prometheus Critical Studies in Innovation has published "The Economic Implications of Alternative Publishing Models" by John W. Houghton and Charles Oppenheim along with five responses to the paper in its latest issue. Access to these papers is free.
Here's an excerpt:
Building on previous work, this paper looks at the costs and potential benefits of alternative models for scientific and scholarly publishing, describing the approach and methods used and summarising the findings of a study undertaken for the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the United Kingdom. It concludes that different publishing models can make a material difference to the costs faced and benefits realised from research communication, and it seems likely that more open access to findings from publicly funded research would have substantial net benefits.
