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04/11/201510/05/2023

RIO pricing: affordable, flexible, sustainable

Today, we are happy to announce our initial pricing scheme and launch promotions.

Many people have asked us what we are going to charge for our novel services – we welcome such questions. In an age when some are charging in excess of $5000 for publishing a single open-access article, we are proud to keep our prices low, but sustainable.

You may notice the pricing structure is more complicated than usual. Don’t Panic. In this blog post, we’ll break it down into easy pieces. We think this flexibility of pricing is a positive feature: it reflects that some outputs are less costly to publish, and others are more expensive. We also offer à la carte pricing with respect to optional services such as linguistic editing, PR services and paper-printed copies.

Try RIO for free

RIO is already open for submissions. To encourage you to give it a try, we’re making idea-stage submissions completely free from now on until the end of April 2016. This promotional offer applies to the following output types if submitted through the ARPHA writing tool: Small Grant Proposals, Research Ideas, PhD Project Plans, PostDoc Project Plans, Data Management Plans and Software Management Plans.

Very small outcomes have very small prices. We think producing a professional, machine-readable version of your work, assigning it a DOI, and enabling optional community peer review is something worth paying for. At € 50, single-figure publications (see Do and Mobley, 2015) are particularly appealingly priced, so as to encourage the community to explore this new format.

For those who like to compare rates between different open-access journals, you’ll find our research article price very competitive at only €550. Unlike many open access journals, we accept review articles, too, as well as a wide variety of other research outputs.

Finally, you might be worried that charging for each and every single output could get quite expensive over time for an individual or an institution. We’ve got that covered with our package plans. For individuals, if you commit to buying a package upfront, we’re happy to reduce the overall price per output published to an average price between EUR 140 and 330 per article (see table below). For funders, institutions, conference organisers and others, we’re happy to make even more competitive deals; just contact us to discuss your needs at: rio@riojournal.com.

For further details, please see the Article Processing Charges and Promotions entries on the RIO website.

28/10/201510/05/2023

PART 2: The ARPHA Writing Tool: Adding Value to RIO

Last week, we presented some basic features of the ARPHA Writing Tool (AWT), focusing on the collaborative authoring process. This post will add the novelties that ARPHA has adopted when it comes to submission and post-submission processes.

Two-step VALIDATION:

Checks are a must whenever high-quality, professional writing is concerned. Shortly before submitting their manuscripts via ARPHA, the authors are free to initiate the first step of the validation process at any time. As a result, an automated technical check runs through the manuscript to verify its consistency and compliance with the JATS (Journal Article Tag Suite) standard as well as key elements of the journal’s policy.

After the automated checks, there is a second-layer of human checks made by RIO editorial assistants in order to bring the manuscript to a pre-publication level. They check compliance with further elements of the journal’s policy as well as linguistic consistency and work with the authors before finalising it altogether.

After SUBMISSION:

Even after submission, collaboration continues. With the peer-review stage being as transparent and open as the whole vision of RIO is, this step is no less straightforward and organised. All peer reviews are automatically consolidated into a single online file that makes the editorial process simple and pleasant. This is made possible by the XML-based workflow in the AWT.

PEER-REVIEW evolution:

Last week, we mentioned that an author can invite reviewers during the authoring stage itself. Let us elaborate here by saying that the ARPHA Writing Tool provides a functionality for pre-submission peer review(s) performed during the authoring process. These peer reviews are submitted together with the manuscript, so that the editorial evaluation and publication can be significantly sped up.

Post-publication UPDATES:

Even after an article is brought to life, ARPHA continues to play a role in it. Because of the XML workflow, authors are able to publish updated versions of their articles at any time. Once they request such an update, their work is returned to the ARPHA Writing Tool, where authors and peers are to collaborate once again. Eventually, the two versions are linked via CrossMark, so that nothing is lost.

As you might have already noticed, just like RIO, the new ARPHA Writing Tool is constructed entirely around the needs of its authors. Why not find out yourself by giving ARPHA & RIO a try when they open for submission early next month?

22/10/201510/05/2023

PART 1: The ARPHA Writing Tool: Adding Value to RIO

The online, collaborative ARPHA Writing Tool (AWT) is an innovative, entirely Web-based, authoring, submission, peer-review, publication & dissemination authoring platform. While flexible to accommodate more traditional journal concepts, it clearly fits neatly with RIO’s novel approach to research publishing.

In the following two-part blog post, we will explain how the newly updated AWT will be integrated with RIO to provide a number of great features for unique user-experience.

All About User Friendliness:

The ARPHA Writing Tool did not appear out of nowhere. Pensoft has been developing its own writing tool since 2012, and the AWT is an updated version of this prototype, the Pensoft Writing Tool. The AWT builds onthe experience we have accumulated during the 3-year lifespan of its predecessor, and is designed to make the user experience as seamless and pleasant as possible.

How we did that? The AWT features a modern and intuitive design, where all features are listed and just a click away for the authors to use. The tool runs in one mode, showing real-time changes, comments and updates. Comments are left inline and automatically navigate through the text to make review and correcting easy.

A New Level of COLLABORATION:

RIO is all about collaboration, and within the ARPHA Writing Tool, this is now easier than ever. Authors can not only work collaboratively on a manuscript with their co-authors, but can also invite external contributors, such as mentors, pre-submission reviewers, linguistic and copy editors, or just colleagues, who may modify the manuscript or comment on it before submission. The system allows for such external contributors to not be listed as co-authors of the manuscript.

The collaborative peer-review process provides easy communication through track-change functionality, comments and replies, and automated, but customizable email and social network notification tools.

TEMPLATES for all needs

The AWT provides a large set of predefined, but flexible article templates covering many types of research outcomes. At the moment, the list fits the needs of the existing Pensoft journals, but with RIO coming soon, the choice of templates will grow to accommodate the needs of publishing full research cycles across a wide range of disciplines.

Adding CONTENT and REFERENCING made easy

A set of Web-based services and tools in AWT allows, e.g. for search and import of literature or data references, cross-referencing of in-text citations, import of tables, upload of images and multimedia, assembling images for display as reusably composite figures, and even add videos to your article.

All the author needs to do to add content to an article is to select the right type from the side menu and then navigate through the instructions in the pop-up window. If in doubt, the authors can also consult the ‘Tips and Tricks’ on our website.

So far, we have explained some of the main features of the AWT that are useful throughout the authoring process, but there is much more to explore! In next week’s post, we will look at what happens after your manuscript is completed and ready for submission.