Scientific Publishing In The Era of Open Access | Synapse

abernard102@gmail.com 2014-04-04

Summary:

"This series explores the impact of open access journals on the scientific publishing industry. In this installment, we examine the publishing industry’s response to the growing popularity of open access journals. ... In October 2013, Science published an exposé of the peer review system at open access journals around the world. In his self-described 'sting operation,' author John Bohannon submitted a critically flawed scientific article to hundreds of open access journals, with the intent of evaluating the quality of their peer review process. Unlike the traditional closed access model of scientific publishing, in which subscription fees cover the cost of editing, publication and distribution of the scientific journal, open access journals are, as the name implies, free to access. Bohannon’s article painted a bleak picture of open access peer review. Out of roughly 300 journals tested, 157 open access journals accepted the paper, 98 rejected it and 49 did not respond to the submission. However, Bohannon’s article, along with the journal Science, received criticism for appearing biased because it failed to test the peer-review processes of any closed access journals alongside its test of open access journals. This questionable piece led to speculation about Science’s motives. Open access offers scientists a publishing alternative to the traditional closed journal model, and its growing popularity among scientists could threaten the bottom line of traditional journals and publishers. As both the content creators for as well as the end users of scientific journals, scientists are intimately wedded to the publishing industry. Until recently, scientists had few options when it came to where to publish their research ..."

Link:

http://synapse.ucsf.edu/articles/2014/04/03/scientific-publishing-era-open-access

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.comment oa.springer oa.elsevier oa.plos oa.peerj oa.usa oa.rwa oa.legislation oa.negative oa.publishers oa.business_models oa.hybrid oa.gold oa.fees oa.credibility oa.quality oa.journals

Date tagged:

04/04/2014, 07:59

Date published:

04/04/2014, 03:59