Open Access Scholarly Journals: Real and Fake
Open access journals have flourished due to the ease of online publishing, and the interest of readers without institutional library privileges. Scholars who want to publish articles are increasingly concerned with the impact of their work, and might feel that open access journals will reach a broader audience. The Budapest Open Access Initiative argues that open access serves the public good through “the world-wide electronic distribution of the peer-reviewed journal literature and completely free and unrestricted access to it by all scientists, scholars, teachers, students, and other curious minds.”Unfortunately, not all open access journals have the public good—and reputations of researchers—as their top priority. These predatory journals collect a fee, but do not deliver on the editorial and peer review services essential to scholars. If you are considering the possibility of submitting an article to an open access journal, especially one that requires a fee, you will want to make sure you have selected a legitimate publication. The Committee on Publication Ethics outlines a set of Core Practices for journals and their editors. Membership in COPE is a sign that the journal is committed to academic honesty. Here are some additional resources to consult:
- Criteria for Determining Predatory Open-Access Publishers by Jeffery Beall
- Beall’s List of Predatory Journals and Publishers
- From the Council of Science Editors: Predatory or Deceptive Publishers – Recommendations for Caution
- From The Scholarly Kitchen: Illegitimate Journals and How to Stop Them: An Interview with Kelly Cobey and Larissa Shamseer and Access vs. Accessibility in Scholarship and Science
- From the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): International standards for editors and authors and Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
- From the US Federal Trade Commission: Academics and scientists: Beware of predatory journal publishers
- Use Think.Check.Submit, a service for authors who want to avoid predatory publications