Many journals owned and published by scientific societies put surpluses generated back into science. The Society for Experimental Biology, which owns the Journal of Experimental Botany and part owns others, gives bursaries for researchers, subsidises conferences and employs staff to raise public awareness. Without surpluses, such activities could continue only if author submission costs were higher for society-owned open-access journals than for others.
Tony Stead
School of Biological Sciences
Royal Holloway, University of London