Open Access

Open access journals divide into those that charge publication fees & those that don't.

Fee-based open access journals

No-fee open access journals

Why Open Access?

• The internet helps readers reach articles
• Their articles lead to more citations
• Many reputable publishers started off as Open Access (BioMed Central)

However...

• Newer open access journals also lack the reputation of their subscription counterparts, which have been in business for decades.

And so?

• We should aim to protect the peer review system
• Otherwise, it damages the overall quality of the journal.

What's being happening?

Business Model

• Some academic publications are made free to read and published with some other cost-recovery models i.e. publication charges, subsidies, or charging subscriptions only for the print edition, with the online edition for free

A different stance

• Rather than just being "copyright", it could just be "free to build upon".

Taxpayers

• One of the arguments for public access to the scholarly literature is that most of the research is paid for by taxpayers through government grants, who therefore have a right to access the results of what they have funded.

However...

• A staff writer for Science magazine targeted the open access system in 2013 by submitting to various journals a deeply flawed paper on the purported effect of a lichen constituent.
• It was criticized for not being peer-reviewed itself and for having a flawed methodology and lack of recognizing its flawed quality and reputability.

What's your opinion on the issue?