PLoS Has Angered the PastramiMachine!!!!

@pastramimachine is WICKED PISSED!

https://twitter.com/pastramimachine/status/709563827122249728

from the page charges (aka OA fee or whatever you want to call it. $2250 at PLoS Genetics according to this guy, I think it is still around $1350 for non GlamourHounds.)

So what has him so angree?

https://twitter.com/pastramimachine/status/709564184531488769

Dude, do you have the slightest idea what people make in the private sector? At the executive level? Of a company with $40-50 Million in gross revenue?

The median total compensation package for CEOs totaled $378,000.

The report says that companies with $25-49.9M in annual revenue are at the median for CEO pay.

I understand that academics don’t get paid as well as they might be but….surely you have SOME idea of what private sector jobs pay? And say, what do University Presidents pull down, anyway?

https://twitter.com/pastramimachine/status/709564879678607360

So what? Is there any business that fails to advertise itself? In the hopes of growing in size or at least maintaining current revenues? Where’s the evidence this is excessive? Have you any idea what PLoS is up against in terms of the advertising budgets of NPG, Springer, Elsevier, etc?

https://twitter.com/pastramimachine/status/709565322886553600

This is ridiculous. It’s like asking your home builder why he doesn’t have a lumbering operation and saw mill out in Oregon or up in Saskatchewan or wheretfever the 2X4s come from. This Aries Systems Corp is the outfit that built the EditorialManager system used by several academic publishers. It’s a service provider. Why would the publisher of a journal re-invent the wheel?

https://twitter.com/pastramimachine/status/709565615372161024

Lobbying activities to keep Elsevier from playing penny-ante shenanigans with Congress to totally obliterate the requirement to deposit manuscripts in Pub Med Central, perhaps? Or related efforts? Sure, PLoS lobbying activities may be mostly for them but it seems that having a wealthy organization opposing the pay journals works out well for the OA fans. How can you complain about this, guy?

https://twitter.com/pastramimachine/status/709566494229860352

https://twitter.com/pastramimachine/status/709566883087962113

Maybe I missed something? When did PLoS say they weren’t a company? And heck, many not-for-profit entities have investment portfolios. Starting with your local University (say, Rutgers, for example). What do you think the “endowment” is? This is no crime. This is responsible stewardship of a business entity. Building up a cushion against future changes in the business climate. Smart work, PLoS! Somehow I don’t think PastramiMachine would be too happy if PLoS went belly-up and all of the published papers disappeared because there was nothing to pay the server fees with!

This guy is delusional, mostly because of his stated belief that PLoS is some sort of capital-gee GoodGuy. That’s on you, dude, not on PLoS.

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https://twitter.com/pastramimachine/status/709570249973231616

More from Odyssey who picked out some replies from Michael Eisen.