Open Access: OA Publishing

Depending on the access and publishing model, Article Processing Charges (APCs) may be charged to authors who want to make their work available as Open Access in a fully-OA, or hybrid journal. These fees are used by the publisher in lieu of or in addition to, subscription charges, to cover publication costs. 

Many publishers' OA publication models wrap the the APCs into higher subscription costs for library content, or have a metered system of charges that get incrementally added to the base subscription charge. Some publishers require mediation and tracking of author submissions by staff of the subscribing institution. 

Beware of "predatory publishers" who may intentionally or inadvertently exploit academic authors.

• the main motive is to collect fees.
• the quality of the work published is not relevant to these publishers - little or no editing or peer-review.
• false claims or promises are made, often regarding journal impact factors and indexing.
• they fail to follow accepted standards or best practices of scholarly publishing.

The risks of dealing with predatory publishers include:

• low-quality peer review diminishing the value of the work
• work being hard to find and not included or indexed in well-known databases
• work disappearing from view altogether
• possible damage to reputation and career

Warning signs you might be dealing with a predator:

• Publication fees not being openly disclosed.
• Payment is demanded even if no paperwork has been signed.
• Imposters pose as a well-known publisher - sometimes adds and extra word ("advances", "review", "report", etc) to the existing, legitimate journal name. The website looks legitimate, but is faked.

More information, adapted from Shamseer et al. (2017). Potential predatory and legitimate biomedical journals: can you tell the difference? A cross-sectional comparison. BMC Medicine. 15:28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-017-0785-9

• Journal's scope of interest includes unrelated and off-topic subjects 
• Spelling and grammar errors on the website and images or logos are distorted, fuzzy or potentially unauthorized 
• Language targets authors, not readers 
• Manuscript submission policies are not clear, and may request articles be submitted via email rather than a submission system.
• Rapid publication is promoted, and promised
• No article retraction policy
• No digital preservation plan for content
• Very low APC (under $150) 
• Contact email address is non-professional and not affiliated with the publisher's domain (e.g. @gmail.com, or @yahoo.com)

Some tools for identifying potentially predatory journals and publishers:

• Beall's List - journals on the list have been evaluated to be predatory
• Predatory Journals - list inspired by Beall's list
• Directory of Open Access Journals - a Directory of reputable journals

The 2022 memorandum from the President's Office of Science Technology and Policy to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research, also known as "The OSTP Memo", or "The Nelson Memo" issues guidance that, by the end of 2025, research funded by all federal agencies should be made freely and immediately available to the public.

Though this memo has caused concern in the research community, the Frequently Asked Questions accompanying the memo provide clarification on a number of points regarding funding and access.

Whether choosing to publish under a traditional-subscription model or make an article open access, the article is still copyrighted either by the author or the publisher. 

• Traditional publication-models generally require authors to transfer copyright to the publisher.
• Open access publishing often allows authors to retain copyright, and makes articles available under a Creative Commons license which allows others to freely access, and use if the author received attribution.

The most common licenses are:

• CC-BY - enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
• CC BY-NC - enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

[From the Creative Commons website © 2019. This work is openly licensed via CC BY 4.0.]