Are Mirror Journals a Better Path to the Open Access Flip? - The Scholarly Kitchen

"If the goal of hybrid OA was to facilitate a global flip to full OA, the goal has, at least so far, failed after decades of trying.

If the goal of hybrid OA was to provide options for authors to select OA while still publishing in their preferred journals, then it’s been a roaring success. ...

Another option is to create “mirror journals”. Mirror journals are essentially new journals that piggyback off existing journals for the sole purpose of offering a fully-OA option. Part A of a journal would be the already existing subscription or hybrid journal, and a new journal, part B, would be a fully-OA version of the same title.

These would be separate publications, with separate ISSNs. However, both parts A and B of the journal twins would have the same editorial board, the same aims and scope, and the same editorial peer review policies. Authors would submit their manuscripts through one shared system for peer review. Upon acceptance, the author would be given the choice of publishing the paper in the hybrid original title, or the fully-OA title.

Mirror journals solve several problems...."