Dennis Carter in an eCampus News article about NPG's Scitable:

Scitable's January launch came as elite universities across the United States are embracing open-access formats--making research articles available for free online. This marks an abrupt departure from the traditional model of printing research articles in academic journals, which can cost campuses as much as $20,000 annually, open-access experts say.

So, is it the traditional model that can cost campuses up to $20K/yr, or academic journals, each of which can cost etc?

It's only obvious that what is meant is $20K/yr per journal subscription if you already know that libraries spend millions of dollars per year on serials.

I'd expect a publication that wants you to register to read its content¹ to bother making that content accurate and unambiguous.

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¹ Sure, registration is free. Registration also provides the publisher with a great bolus of immensely valuable marketing information, to say nothing of the slimy opt-out spam opportunity. Which is why I recommend poisoning such databases with fake information providing minimal information unless you get content that you really value from the site. (Two wrongs etc, hence the edit.)