AMS 2010 Page-Charge Waiver Program
and New Color Pricing

By decision of the governing Council, AMS is setting aside $300,000 for waivers in 2010 for authors who legitimately cannot pay full page charges. The vast majority of our authors pay page charges in full, but authors who cannot pay full page charges must apply for either a partial or a full waiver. Please note that the changes in color charges apply to submissions to the AMS technical journals only, not the Bulletin of the AMS (BAMS). BAMS employs a page charge structure with no color charges. Authors submitting to BAMS and in need of a page charge waiver will apply for either a partial or a full waiver as before. Information about submitting to BAMS is available here.

Starting with papers submitted as of 1 October 2009, full payers are now charged a flat rate of $150 per color piece (a considerable reduction from the previous price of $490 for the first piece, $390 for the second piece, and $150 each for any additional pieces).

The AMS recognizes that the cost of color figures continues to be a drain on research budgets, and we will continue to work with press to leverage new technology to reduce these costs and pass the savings along to authors. Print runs for AMS journals continue to decline at 10%–15% per year—we are hopeful that within the next two years they will be low enough to switch from offset to digital printing. We would then be able to offer even lower color fees.

For the present, we can offer the lower flat rate color fee only to authors paying their page charges in full. Authors granted waivers (either partial or full) will continue to be charged initial setup fees for their first two color pieces ($490 and $390 for the first two pieces, $150 per piece for any additional pieces).

The AMS is pleased to have the resources to make the $300,000 available to authors legitimately in need of waivers during 2010, especially as the AMS budget, like every other budget, is under considerable strain. However, authors should be aware that this sum of money is about $200,000 less than the sums AMS has been granting annually in waivers for the past several years. AMS must stretch the $300,000 to last through all of 2010, and doing so will require difficult decisions, particularly regarding full-waiver papers.

Detailed information on page-charge waivers is available here.

Kenneth F. Heideman
Director of Publications

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