open access publishing: the pros and cons (or) the good, the bad and the ugly gaetano r....
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHING: THE PROS AND CONS (OR) THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
Gaetano R. Lotrecchiano, EdD, PhDGWU Health Sciences Lunch and Learn Series, Sept. 24, 2014
Worldview and what to expect… Polarized Issue An objective overview (evidence based
when possible) SOME of the issues in this vast and
growing consideration of the role of OA A look from both sides of the “webpage”
(as authors and institutions AND as publishers)
Ultimately….You Decide!
Information: Definitions and Resources
In the next 40 minutes… Reasons for
publishing The role of OA The Pros (The
Good) The Cons (The Bad) The Dark Side (The
Ugly) You Decide…
Electronic Resources As Per slide
Materials OA Definitions
(Handout) Citation
Advantage of OA (Handout)
Open Discussion…(5 mins)
So…Why do we publish?
What is Open Access Publishing?
Guy’s Definitions… A rapidly emerging system of publishing that allows
greater flexibility and access to peer (and non-peer) reviewed information that is www-based.
An internet-based tool to ensure greater dissemination to larger and more diverse groups of readers.
Print/subscription/traditional journals that offer open access ($-consumer/library)
Electronic OA journals ($-by the author/institution) See handout for some of the emerging language
(definitions)…
What does Open Access (OA) bring to the table of publishing?
Flexibility Global Perspective and Delivery of Scholarship Publishing Reform Concerns about Intellectual Property (IP) concerns Issues about Sustainability and Archiving “Green” publishing More rapid publication turn around. Technological Advantages Lack of regulation The and list goes on…both good and bad, and ugly
The Good…
Dissemination to a wider/international audience (Click and Read!)
Sometimes Quicker turn around time from submission to publication
The Good…
Easy access by the knowledge community (and the public) who really want your work!
Greater likelihood of being cited See Handout
The Good…
Because comparing means of highly skewed distributions can be misleading, the citation distributions or each population were examined to see if there was a difference. The box plots in figure 1 show that across all disciplines the distribution of number of citations indicates that articles in the open-access sample have higher citation counts.
Antelman, K (2004) Do open-access articles have a greater research impact? College & Research Libraries 65(5), 372-382.
The Good…
Publishing Innovations (sights, sounds, colors, and animations)
Stipelman BA, Hall KL, Zoss A, Okamoto J, Stokols D, Börner K (2014) Mapping the Impact of Transdisciplinary Research: A Visual Com- parison of Investigator-Initiated and Team-Based Tobacco Use Research Publications. J Transl Med Epidemiol 2(2): 1033.
http://www.jscimedcentral.com/TranslationalMedicine/translationalmedicine-spid-collaboration-science-translational-medicine-1033.pdf
The Good…
Often maintain the copyright in the author’s name
Freedom and ease to circulate to micro-communities and non-academic partners
Solution to the ‘Serial Crisis’ cost increases of journals and subscriptions Housing journals
Shift of economics from the consumer to the institution or individual publishing.
The Good…
JCR Year and Edition: 2013 Science
Abbreviated Journal Title Impact FactoreLife 8.519Journal of Medical Internet Research 4.669PLoS One 3.534Implementation Science 3.470BMC Bioinformatics 2.672BMC Public Health 2.321BMC Medical Research Methodology 2.168BMJ Open 2.063BMC Health Services Research 1.659BMC Medical Ethics 1.600BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 1.496BMC Medical Education 1.409Scientific World Journal 1.219
The Bad… Wide diversity of Publication fees and
schedules
Publisher Fee Type
American Society of Microbiology
$2,000 (members) $3,000 (non-members)
Association (print and OA)Note the special arrangement for members/non-members
BioMed Central $730 - $2,505 (15% reduction for UCB authors due to UCB membership)
ALL OA publisherNote the special arrangement for individual authors and members.
Nature Publishing Group $1,350 Print and OA
SAGE $0 (UC Berkeley authors pay no open access fee due to Berkeley Research Impact Initiative sponsorship of all UC Berkeley submissions.
Print and OANote the special arrangement for institution
Wiley Open Access $1,850 - $3,000 Print and OANote the variability between different publications of the same publisher
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/scholarlycommunication/oa_fees.html
The Bad…
Not economically sustainable-for individuals or organizations Budgeting for publications fees
Negative Impact on Learning Societies versus Research Intensive Societies Learning Societies: Lack of economic structures to sustain
dissemination Research Societies: More sponsored outlets to sustain OA “Double Dipping” (yes…even credible publishers)
Lack of Governing rules Publishing is a system of trust Trust can be broken and exploited
The Bad…
Conflict of Interests (pay for publishing)Letter to the Editor (N Engl J Med 2013; 369:491August 1, 2013)
Open access generates numerous legal issues concerning ownership of intellectual property, licensing, embargo periods, consent, copyright expiration of older literature, “fair use” policies, indexing and archiving, and preservation of works. None of these issues, however, are as challenging as delivering rigorous scrutiny of potential conflicts of interest, which is an important hallmark of high-quality competitors that use traditional publishing models. The open-access model, in and of itself, need not diminish scientific rigor, selectivity, or peer review: journals can use the same standards and procedures for the acceptance of scholarly submissions whether the delivery medium involves restricted access (either in print or online) or open access in digital form. But when the journal is not constrained by size and each additional article generates more processing revenue (whether it be from authors, grants, or institutions), the incentive may be to publish more, not less. The overall lower rejection rate described in these Perspective articles raises concern about the potential for publication of lower-quality studies.
With a model that thrives on soliciting greater numbers of submissions, the scrutiny of conflict of interest may be diluted; this may invite the pharmaceutical industry to take advantage of relaxed journal standards to ghostwrite articles and obscure its participation in the drug trials, analysis of the data, or both. Qualified peer reviewers are already at a premium, and more volume risks compromise in review. Scholarly journals would, we hope, resist the temptation to lower publication standards and accept weaker submissions or those with conflict-of-interest issues. Nevertheless, the inherent conflict of interest in the “author pays” model cannot be ignored. Professional editors and experienced staff are required to ferret out conflicts of interest; this expensive labor and sophisticated protocols do not always factor into the open-access model.
The Ugly…
Suspicious, Suspect, or Questionable Journals The Internet is a dark place…and getting
darker! Some journal have bad reputations and
prey on scholars (predatory journals)
http://scholarlyoa.com/2014/03/20/misleading-metrics-a-new-list-on-this-blog/
http://scholarlyoa.com/individual-journals/
The Ugly…
Questionable Review Processes Not knowing the reviewing priorities Bogus reviewers Weak or non-existent criteria Beware of quick turnaround reviews Beware of unknown or fictitious editors
The Ugly…
Theft Journal Identity theft Published since 1951 Hijacked Been trying to get the
offending website closed down without success
Not able to afford the legal fees
The legitimate journal created a brand-new website in August 2014
http://www.jokulljournal.com/
The Ugly…
Theft Author Identity theft Turning over
copyrights to bogus authorities
Fake editor Breach of Trust Your work can show
up somewhere else with someone else’s name on it.
What to do and where to learn more?
Use the Internet for Good… Search, check, recheck Be Cautious NOT cynical. OA is NOT going away If an offer sounds too good it is too good. Get to know the editor(s), journal, other
contributors Check the physical location of the journal and
their willingness to communicate openly and in a timely manner
Get to know their practices up front Maintain high personal and ethical integrity
What to do and where to learn more?
GWU Guide to Scholarly Publishing: Controversy Surrounding Open Access Publishinghttp://libguides.gwumc.edu/c.php?g=27848&p=170644.
Scholarly Open Access: Critical Analysis of Scholarly Open Access Publishing. http://scholarlyoa.com/
Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association http://oaspa.org/
Directory of Open Access Journals. http://doaj.org/
