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Open Access Publishing: Fact or Fiction?

Katherine Morley , , , ,
Open in order to… by Nick Shockey is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Open Access publications have been around for decades yet there are still many misconceptions and doubts about their reliability, quality and value. One of the top misconceptions is that Open Access journals are of lower quality, not peer-reviewed, and the equivalent of self-publication.

The Journal of Clinical Investigation, a highly respected publication founded in 1924 and published by the American Society for Clinical Investigation, is a peer-reviewed biomedical research journal covering a range of medical disciplines incuding Immunology, Neuroscience, Oncology, and Gastroenterology. In 1996 it was one of the first to make its research articles freely available. Why would they do such a thing? According to the editor at the time, the non-profit nature of their work informed their decision. Today, according to SCOPUS, the journal has a CiteScore* of 10.98, a SCImago Journal Rank (SJR)** of 8.074, and a Source Normalized Impact Per Paper (SNIP)Ɨ of 2.787.

The National Academy of Medicine, established in 1970 and now part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is another example of a well-respected research institution that along with its partners provides thousands of open access publications for the benefit of people around the world.

The PLoS journals offer other examples of high-quality, non-profit, open access publishing. On their website PLoS, which was founded in 2001, states their belief that “open is no longer just about free and unrestricted access to research, it’s also about open data, transparency in peer review and an open approach to science assessment.” Of the PLoS journals, PLoS Medicine has the highest CiteScore (8.73), SJR (5.951), and SNIP (3.612).

Here are some other Open Access misconceptions. Can you tell fact from fiction? To find the answers check out Busting OA Myths.

Fact or Fiction?

  • Faculty can freely use their own published content in courses they teach.
  • Open Access is a cost shifting device.
  • Public Access and Open Access accomplish the same thing.

Post contributed by Jane Natches

 

*CiteScore measures average citations received per document published in the serial.

**SJR measures weighted citations received by the serial. Citation weighting depends on subject field and prestige of the citing serial.

ƗSNIP measures actual citations received relative to citations expected for the serial’s subject field.