To the Editors, Diversity and Distributions, and Wiley Publishers:

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September 4, 2018 by Town Peterson

4 September 2018

To the Editors, Diversity and Distributions, and Wiley Publishers:

We write to you as a large group of scholars, researchers, educators, and students, from many institutions, who work in the areas of ecology, conservation, and biogeography. We, as a group, are extremely concerned with maintaining an active and fair system of scholarly communications in our field. We have collectively published dozens of papers in Diversity and Distributions, with hundreds or thousands of citations, and as such we marshal some degree of wisdom and experience in this arena. With this experience in hand, we write to urge you to reconsider your course of action with regards to the future of this journal.

Our understanding is that Diversity and Distributions is planning to transition from the previous, traditional subscription model to an author-paid article-processing-charge-based open access model. We certainly applaud the desire to transition to open access, as we share the philosophy that scientific literature should be freely available to the broadest possible audience, including researchers, educators, and students in both developing and developed countries, in wealthy as well as resource-challenged institutions, and so on. Certainly, some open access model represents the future of scholarly publishing in our field.

Nonetheless, we are very concerned about the article processing charge funding model that is planned for your open access transition (we understand to be US$2200 per paper). As you will have appreciated, the community of authors that supports your journal with quality and innovative papers, as well as with expert editing and peer-review, is impressively diverse, coming from all corners of the globe and from institutions of many types and levels. As such, while some of the current community of authors will be able to afford such publication charges, many will not, especially in countries with the greatest biodiversity.

We are particularly concerned that those authors whom we most wish to encourage and include in our scholarly enterprise are precisely those that will be excluded from full participation because they will not have the financial resources to publish in Diversity and Distributions. The monthly salaries of some of these academics are less than US$1000 or even less than US$500, so the planned article processing fees will be prohibitive. Indeed, even for many researchers in more prosperous countries, these fees are extreme, because the researchers must distribute ever-dwindling financial resources to supporting students, research, or other uses, instead of supporting the high cost of publications. (We note that the average article processing charges across open access journals is approximately $1400, and even that is prohibitive for many.)

We are extremely concerned about this issue, and are unanimous in opposing this transition that you have planned. We would urge you instead to use a different funding model, such as “platinum open access”—a funding model that relies on some external subsidy to make journals open both to readers and to authors, with no charges. We realize that this funding model represents a major challenge, but we note the availability of open source journal-management software, as well as low-cost commercial arrangements, that can make a less expensive arrangement feasible. Should you opt to continue with a model based on significant article processing charges, however, as a group, we will be forced to seek other venues for publishing our work and that of our students and research groups.

In sum, we urge you to reconsider this transition to this expensive open access model. We applaud the idea of open access, yet we are concerned that the consequence will exclude from your journals the work of many researchers for whom publishing in Diversity and Distributions will become prohibitive. As such, we oppose your current open access plan, and hope that you will look for or develop a more acceptable, equitable, alternative. We are at your service should you require any further information or discussion.

Very sincerely,

Pedro Abellán, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
Pelayo Acevedo, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
J.R.B. Alfred, Nature Environment and Wildlife Society, Kolkata, INDIA
María Altamirano Jeschke, Universidad de Málaga, Spain
Fressia Ames Martínez, Universidad Continental, Huancayo – Perú
Sabhrina Gita Aninta, Tambora Muda Indonesia, Bogor, Indonesia
Elizabeth Arellano, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Morelos Mexico
Rafael Arruda, UFMT, Sinop, Brazil
Muhammad Arslan, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig
Jesús Arturo, UABC, México
Uzma Ashraf, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
Claudia Ballesteros Barrera, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, CDMX, México
Márcia Barbosa, Évora University, Portugal
Andrés Baselga, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Elisa Bonaccorso, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador
Marcelo Bonino, INIBIOMA-CONICET, S.C. de Bariloche, Argentina
Christielly Borges, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil
Leandro S. Brasil, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil
David Buckley, MNCN-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
Vinnie E. Caicero García, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, La Paz, Baja California Sur, México
Edith Calixto, UNAM, México
Andrés Carrazco, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador
Juan David Carvajal-Quintero, Instituto de Ecologia A.C., Xalapa, Mexico
Byron Dario Castaneda Florez, CDC, Berlin-Germany
Rosa M. Chefaoui, CCMAR, Faro, Portugal
Kenneth Chiou, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
Oscar Armando Chipana Marca, Asc. Pro Fauna Silvestre – Ayacucho, Huamanga – Perú
Marcus Cianciaruso, Universidade Federal de Goias, Goiania, Brasil
Marlon E. Cobos, University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute
Fernando Contreras, PNUD, CALAKMUL, Mexico
Javier Maximiliano Cordier, IDEA-CONICET, Córdoba, Argentina
Carlos Filipe Camilo Cotrim, Universidade Estadual de Goiás, Anápolis
Dylan Craven, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
A. Craves, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Angela P. Cuervo-Robayo, Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, CONABIO, México
Jaime Culebras, Photo Wildlife Tours, Cáceres, Spain
Adrian L.V. Davis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Francesco de Bello, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Paulo De Marco Júnior, Depto. Ecologia, Univ. Federal de Goiás, Brasil
Marcelo de Moraes Weber, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Fernando de Moura Resende, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia
Claudio Delgadillo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City
Jose Alexandre F Diniz-Filho, Depto. Ecologia, Univ. Federal de Goiás, Brasil
Ricardo Dobrovolski, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil
Tim Doherty, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia
Fernanda Duque, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States
Adrián Alonso Durán, INECOA/CONICET, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina
Andrea Echeverry, Investigador Independiente, Barranquilla
Ejigu, University of Olso, Oslo
Dr. Ahmed El-Gabbas, University of Freiburg, Freibrug, Germany
Sandra Enríquez, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
Griselda Escalona-Segura, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Campeche, México
Luis E. Escobar – Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
Federico Escobar, Instituto de Ecologia, A.C, Xalapa, Mexico
Alba Estrada, Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, Ciudad Real, Spain
Jessica Falcão, Instituto de ecología, Xalapa, México
Folorunso Fasina, University of Pretoria, Pretoria South Africa
Kenneth Feeley, University of Miami, Coral Gables, USA
Sidney Feitosa Gouveia, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, Brazil
Marc Fernandez, Universit of Azores, Ponta Delgada, Portugal
Richard Field, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Erica Fleishman, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Mauro Fois, university of cagliari, Cagliari
Yoan Fourcade, SLU, Uppsala, Sweden
Elizabeth Franklin Chilson, Inpa, Manaus, Brazil
Benedictus Freeman, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA
Carolina Gámez Brunswick, Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A.C., La Paz, México
Emilio Garcia, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain
Enrique García-Barros, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Emili García-Berthou, University of Girona, Girona, Spain
David García-Callejas, CREAF, Barcelona, Spain
Scott L. Gardner, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
Artur Gil, Ce3C & Azorean Biodiversity Group, Ponta Delgada, Portugal
Gimo Daniel, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Melisa A. Giorgis, Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (CONICET-UNC), Córdoba, Argentina
Carola Gómez-Rodríguez, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Thiago Gonçalves-Souza, UFRPE, Recife
Paúl Gonzáles, UNMSM, Lima
Alejandro González, UNAM, Ciudad de México, México
Edgar González, Escuela Nacional de Agricultura, Villa Nueva, Guatemala
Noelia Viviana Gonzalez Baffa Trasci, Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas, San Salvador De Jujuy
Raul Gonzalez-Ittig, IDEA (CONICET-UNC), Córdoba, Argentina
José F González-Maya, ProCAT Colombia/Internacional, Bogota, Colombia
J D González-Trujillo, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia
Maricel Graña Grilli, CONICET, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
Carlos Granado Lorencio, University of Sevilla, Sevilla (Spain)
Jose Luis Granados Soler, Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Rich Grenyer, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Paschoal Grossi, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife
Borislav Guéorguiev, National Museum of Natural History, Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria
José Carlos Guerrero, Instituto de Ecología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Antoine Guisan, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Rob Guralnick, University of Florida, USA
Eliécer E. Gutiérrez, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Yennifer Hernandez, MPI, Plon, Germany
Carlos Hernández-Castellano, CREAF, Barcelona, Spain
Thomas Hickler, Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Christian Hof, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany
Joaquín Hortal, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Spain
Carlos N. Ibarra-Cerdeña, Departamento de Ecología Humana – Cinvestav, Merida, Yucatán, México
Álvaro Idárraga Piedrahíta. Instituto de Biología. Universidad de Antioquia. Medellín, Colombia
Manuel Jara. Department of Population Health and Pathobiology. North Carolina State University, USA
Laura Jiménez J., University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, USA
José Jiménez López, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala (México)<, Tlaxcala
Daniel Jiménez-García – Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México
Leidy Marcela Jojoa Unigarro, Salvamontes corporation, Medellin
Martin Jung, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Jamie M. Kass, City University of New York, New York, NY
Jeremy Kerr, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Kari Koivula, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Holger Kreft, University of Göttingen, Göttingen,Germany
Yasuhiro Kubota, Lab. Biodiversity & Conservation Biogeography, University of the Ryukyus, Japan
Sergo Lambertucci, CONICET, Bariloche, Argentina
John Lattke, Universidade Federal do Parana, Curitiba, Brazil
Aleksi Lehikoinen, Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki
Pedro J. Leitão, Technische Universitaet Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
Victor Lemes Landeiro, Universidade federal de mato grosdo, Cuiabá , brazil
Andres Lira-Noriega, Instituto de Ecologia, A.C., Xalapa, Mexico
Jorge M. Lobo. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, España
Peter Lowenberg Neto, UNILA, Foz do Iguacu/Brazil
Rafael Loyola, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil
Fernando Machado-Stredel, University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute
Luigi Maiorano, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Roma, Italia
Mayra L. Maldonado, Independent Researcher, Guatemala, Guatemala
Leandro Marbán, CONICET – Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Argentina
Annie Machordom, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC), Madrid, Spain
Imelda Martínez M., Instituto de Ecología A. C., Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
Oscar Gustavo Martinez Lopez, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico
Enrique Martínez-Meyer. Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Miguel Angel Martínez-Morales, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Mexico
Tom Matthews, University of Birmingham, U.K.
Regina Gabriela Medina. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical (CONICET – Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina)
Rahul Mehrotra, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Yolanda Melero Cavero, CREAF, Barcelona, Spain
Sara Melo Merino, Posgrado en Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia, UNAM, México
Augusto H Mendonca, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo – Brazil
André Menegotto Domingos, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brasil
Cory Merow. Yale University, USA
Andrea Meseguer, CNRS, Montpellier, France
Frederico Mestre, Évora University, Portugal, Évora
Andres Millan, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, España
Virginie Millien, McGill University, Montréal Canada
Priscilla Minotti, 3iA – Universidad Nacional de San Martin, General San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina
David Moo Llanes, UNAM, Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico
Carolina Laura Morales, CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Bariloche, Argentina
Diego Morales, INSPI, Quito, Ecuador
Israel Moreno-Contreras, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Gabriel Munoz, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Antonio-Román Muñoz, Universidad de Málaga, Spain
Francois Muñoz, University Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France
João Carlos Nabout, Universidade Estadual de Goiás, Anápolis, Brazil
Adolfo Navarro, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico
Elkin Noguera Urbano, Asociación Gaica, Bogotá, Colombia
Javier Nori, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina.
Agustina Novillo. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical, CONICET – Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina
Catherine Numa, Universidad de Alicante, Malaga Spain
Claudia Nuñez-Penichet, University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute
Susana Ochoa-Gaona, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Campeche, México
Nora Oleas, U. Indoamerica, Ecuador
Luis Osorio Olvera. Centro del Cambio Global y la Sustentabilidad en el Sureste (CCGSS) Tabasco, México
Hannah L. Owens, University of Florida, USA
Daniel Paiva Silva, Instituto Federal Goiano, Urutaí, Brazil
Monica Papeş, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
Juan Luis Parra. Instituto de Biología, Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
Micael Parreira, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiania – Brazil
Dr Payo-Payo, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen
Richard Pearson, University College London, U.K.
Timothy Perez, University of Miami, MIAMI, USA
Natalia Perez Harguindeguy, CONICET & National University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina
Maria Eugenia Periago, biologa, argentina
Felipe Pessoa, FIOCRUZ, Manaus
Townsend Peterson, University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute
Adam Petrusek, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
Jesús N. Pinto-Ledezma, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, USA
Alexis Herminio Plasencia Vazquez, Universidad Autonoma de Campeche, Campeche, Mexico
María Laura Ponssa. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo (CONICET-Fundación Miguel Lillo), Tucumán, Argentina
Daniela A. Poo-Muñoz, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Mayor sede Temuco, Chile
David A. Prieto-Torres, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico
Hong Qian, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, USA
Huijie Qiao, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Carolina Quintero, INIBIOMA (CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue), Bariloche, Argentina
Mayitza Ramírez Pinero, Inecol, Xalapa Veracruz
Thiago F. Rangel, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brasil
Ludmila Rattis, Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth – USA
Adrián Regos, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Jiří Reif, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Luís Reino, Cibio-Univ Porto, Portugal
Esteban Manrique Reol, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid, Spain
Félix Requena García, Complutense University of Madrid, Hannover
Sara Reverté Saiz, CREAF, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Paola B. Reyna, Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA CONICET UNC), Córdoba, Argentina
Rafael Reyna-Hurtado, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Campeche, Mexico
Bruno R Ribeiro, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia | Brazil
Ignacio Ribera, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Barcelona, Spain
Marc Rius, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
Daniell Rodrigo Rodrigues Fernandes, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil
Clarita Rodríguez Soto, Centro de Estudios e Investigación en Desarrollo Sustentable, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, México
Adriana Rodríguez-Ferraro, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela
Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
Octavio R. Rojas-Soto – Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Xalapa, Veracruz, México
David Romero, Laboratorio de Desarrollo Sustentable y Gestión Ambiental del Territorio (LDSGAT), Instituto de Ecología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad de la República-Montevideo-Uruguay
Víctor Romero, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
Ulises Romero Mendez, UJED, Gomez Palacio, México
Daniel Romero-Álvarez, University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute
James J. Roper, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil
Adriana Ruggiero, Laboratorio Ecotono. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Medio Ambiente (INIBIOMA) CONICET- Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Bariloche. Argentina
Arturo Ruiz Luna, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C., Mazatlán, Sinaloa. México
Lorena Ruiz-Montoya, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Mexico
Fausto Saenz, Fundacin Neotripical, Cajica, Colombia
Sainge Nsanyi Moses, Tropical Plant Exploration Group (TroPEG) Cameroon, Buea, Cameroon
David Sánchez-Fernández, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Luis A. Sánchez-González, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México City, México
Isabel Sanmartin, REAL JARDIN BOTANICO, CSIC, MADRID, SPAIN
Ana M. C. Santos, Universidad de Alcalá, Spain
Erin Saupe, University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K.
David Schoeman, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Australia
Andreas Schweiger, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
Xingfeng Si, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada/College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Thiago S F Silva, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, Brazil
Brent J Sinclair, Western University, London, ON, Canada
Prem Prakash Singh, North-Eastern Hill University, SHILLONG, INDIA
Marinez Ferreira de Siqueira, Instituto de Pesquisas do Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Jorge Soberón, University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute
Lucrecia Souviron-Priego, Biogeography, Diversity and Conservation Research Team. Department of Animal Biology. Universidad de Málaga, Spain
Rachakonda Sreekar, University of Adelaide, Adelaide
Vanessa Staggemeier, Ufrn, Brasil
David Storch, Charles University, Czech Republic
James Stroud, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, USA
Diederik Strubbe, Ghent University, Ghent Belgium
Geiziane Tessarolo, Universidade Estadual de Goiás, Anápolis
Boris Tinoco, Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca, Ecuador
Adam Tomasovych, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Ricardo Torres, Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal, CONICET/Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina
Anna Traveset, Spanish Research Council, Esporles, Mallorca, Spain
Kostas Triantis, Department of Ecology and Taxonomy, Faculty of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University, Athens, Greece
María Triviño, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Jordan Tzvetkov, SRTI-BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria
Werner Ulrich, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Yntze van der Hoek, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Musanze, Rwanda
Sara Varela, Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity, Berlin, Germany
Julián A. Velasco – Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
Guillermo Velo-Antón, CIBIO, Portugal
José R. Verdú, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
David L. Vergara-Tabares, Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal, Córdoba, Argentina
Raisa Vieira, Federal University of Goias/ UFG, Goiania/Brazil
Fabricio Villalobos, Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Xalapa, Veracruz, México
Sara Villén Pérez, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
David Wardle, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Dan L. Warren, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Institute, Germany
Victoria Werenkraut, INIBIOMA – CONICET, Bariloche, Argentina
Raquel Williams, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas, USA
Guadalupe Williams-Linera, Instituto de Ecologia, A.C., Xalapa, Mexico
Carlos Yañez Arenas, Laboratorio de Ecología Geográfica, Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Yucatán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Yucatán, México
Haibin Yu, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
Fernando Zagury Vaz-de-Mello, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá
Veronica Zamora Gutierrez, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Durango, Mexico
Gengping Zhu, College of Life Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
Robert M. Zink, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln USA

 

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