OA JOURNALS: OA - NEGATIVES

LACK OF THE HIGH IMPACT

In various disciplines such as science, medicine, and economics, researchers are rated by their ability to publish in journals with a high impact factor  (ie a highly cited journal)

• it takes some time before new journals (both traditional and open access) can acquire an impact factor

• Many OA publications are fledgling:  they need time to establish themselves … to become known … before they are able to attract citations

Source:  Wangeningen University  https://www.wur.nl/en/library/researchers/open-access/open-access-pros-and-cons.htm  

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES (APCs)  

• APCs are imposed under the Gold OA model, where traditional publishers offer opportunities for researchers to publish OA articles in traditionally non-open access journals, by allocating a number of OA articles to be published per issue - via Gold OA

• However, this practice comes with a cost to the researcher/author:  ie the APC may constitute a substantial burden, or possibly, may even be prohibitive for the researcher
   

• On the positive side, some institutions (including universities) provide funding to researchers publishing in this model
  
  
• However, if the researcher’s institution doesn’t provide funds for APCs, the result may be a substantial cost  imposed upon the researcher

Source:  Jain, Iyengar & Vaishya  2021, "Article processing charge may be a barrier to publishing",  J Clin Orthop Trauma, 2021, March 14: 14-16   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7919939/

Source:  Waters, B  2021, "What is an Open Access Journal? Types, costs, pros and cons"
 https://sciwriting.blog/what-is-an-open-access-journal-types-costs-pros-and-cons/

LOW JOURNAL PROFILES

Free Diamond OA journals are not well known, and have low impact factors

Source:  Waters, B, 2021 "What is an Open Access Journal? Types, costs, pros, and cons".  https://sciwriting.blog/what-is-an-open-access-journal-types-costs-pros-cons/