Open Access Publishers

Publishing peer reviewed articles in  journals which give  immediate open access to these articles, mostly based on a fee model, becomes more and more used (Open Access Gold).

And it is acclaimable that more and more publishers offer journals relying on that  business model.


All that glitters is not gold ...
But there are also some start-ups, where it is difficult to give  answers concerning their seriousness.

A first point of contact in this case is  OASPA, the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (http://www.oaspa.org/). The OASPA has given itself a "Code of Conduct":

 

  • Members should not indulge in any practices or activities that could bring the Association or open access publishing into disrepute;
  • Company contact information shall be clearly visible on the web site;
  • All articles or books shall be subjected to some form of peer-based review process. This process and policies related to peer review shall be clearly outlined on the journal or publisher web site;
  • Journals shall have editorial boards or other governing bodies whose members are recognized experts in the field(s) that constitute the scope of the journal;
  • Any fees or charges related to publishing materials in the journal or for publishing books shall be clearly stated and be easy to find for potential authors;
  • Any direct marketing activities publishers engage in shall be appropriate and unobtrusive;
  • An organization’s, journal’s or book's licensing policy (including policy on re-use and redistribution) shall be clearly stated and visible on the web site;
  • Instructions to authors shall be available and easily located from the journal homepage;
  • Misconduct may be reported to the Board of Directors.

This Code of Conduct is helpful and defines reliable publishers.

"Beall's List of Predatory Open-Access Publishers"
Responsible for this list is Jeffrey Beall, a librarian from the University of Denver, who compiled all the information on his personal blog. Keep in mind that this list  comes from a personal point of view, however, you will find helpful information in it.

Please feel free to contact the library for further advice.