What is Open Access?
Publishing in trusted Open Access venues
Open Access journals and books are legitimate and beneficial methods of scholarly communication. Unfortunately, there are some publishers who may implement unethical practices and take advantage of authors. In particular, some Open Access publishers abuse the Open Access Gold Model in which the author pays for the publication of their article or book/book chapter.
These publishers tend to campaign aggressively for academics to submit thier research, charge authors high fees (often hidden at first) but do not offer sufficient quality control or a thorough editorial process. Many of them accept papers without an appropriate editorial board or peer review process, often including works with poor writing and low-quality content.
These sub-standard research outputs can reflect poorly upon high quality research papers that are displayed alongside them. They can also offer scholars incorrect or misleading information upon which they might build their research, weakening scholarly communication and research as a whole.
How to assess an Open Access journal or Open Access book publisher
Before publishing an Open Access book or book chapter, or in an Open Access journal, there are certain factors that should be considered to determine whether the publisher/journal adheres to ethical publishing standards. Here are some questions to consider:
- Did the publisher send you an un-solicited invitation to submit an article for publication?
- Does the journal's or publisher's name sound very similar to a well-known or reputable journal or publisher?
- Is the scope of the journal overly broad?
- Are the credentials of the editorial staff provided?
- Does the publisher promise an accelerated editorial process?
- Is there minimal (or non-existent) peer review and/or copy-editing?
- Are listed impact metrics or database indexing verifiably true?
- Can you submit your article without first transferring your copyright?
- Are you required to pay an article processing charge (APC) before your article is accepted? (Note that it is conventional practice for Open Access journals to charge APC's only upon acceptance.)
Resources to help you assess an Open Access journal or Open Access book publisher:
- Check to see if the journal is in the Directory of Open Access Journals which reviews the quality of the journals it includes.
- Check to see if the publisher has books listed in the Directory of Open Access Books, which reviews the peer-review and licensing methods used by the publishers it includes.
- Check to see if the publisher is a member of the Open Access Scholarly Publisher's Association (OASPA) or the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
- Search to see if the journal is indexed in a major database.
- A journal may indicate an impact factor on their website, but check Journal Citation Reports or SJR (SCIMago Journal and Country Rankings) to see if the journal has a legitimate impact factor.
Getting help or finding out more
- If you need assistance, or have doubts, contact your subject librarian.
- CARL guide on How to Assess a Journal
- Choose the right journal for your research with the help of Think. Check. Submit. for journals and books/book chapters
- Find a trusted OA journal in which to publish
- University of Toronto’s Identifying Deceptive Publishers: A Checklist
