Marketing OA journals now that authors are customers: the role of RSS

The article discusses the emergence of authors as consumers with considerable purchasing power in the publishing chain of a new publishing economic model whereby open access (OA) articles are available free of charge to all readers, whilst revenue to cover publication costs comes from authors' fees. Some early evidence suggests that publishers are engaged in competition for the new consumers, and their efforts are shifting from marketing and selling subscriptions, to marketing and selling publishing venues (OA journals). Within this context, the article suggests that RSS is a very important cost-effective marketing tool if used properly and can play an important role in the marketing and dissemination process of OA articles, in particular when those articles are published in hybrid journals. The article presents real examples of TOC RSS feeds produced by leading publishers and shows that the benefits and effectiveness of those RSS fees are directly related with the availability, quality and richness of its content.