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What are they?

According to Charles W. Bailey, Jr. OA journals are electronic journals that publish freely accessible online articles and have the following characteristics:

  • They are scholarly
  • They conduct a peer review which is the same quality procedure as conventional journals
  • They are digital
  • They are freely accessible
  • They may allow authors to retain copyright
  • They may use Creative Commons or other open-content licenses
  • They are published by non-profit (e.g. PLoS) or for-profit publishers (e.g. BioMed Central).
Benefits of OA journals

The evolution of Internet technology has led to different forms of scientific publishing, with many benefits for the concerned publics. OA journals:

  • Allow the immediate publication of academic and research results
  • Permit a more efficient operation of the scientific publishing procedure and the dissemination of knowledge
  • Can use the traditional concept of peer review
  • Increase the visibility and impact of the authors' work
  • Contribute to innovation and economic growth
Cost issues

OA journals have operational and administration costs as they utilize similar quality control mechanisms like those of conventional journals (e.g. peer review, copy editing).

The basic concept of the Open Access Movement is the free access to publicly funded research results, meaning that the subscription model is excluded. OA publishers need to find other ways of funding in order to cover their costs.

According to Peter Suber, OA journals can cover their costs by:

  • Charging publication costs on accepted articles that can be paid either by the author or the author's sponsor (employer, funding agency)
  • Receiving a subsidy from the hosting university or professional society
  • Charging auxiliary services or priced add-ons, advertising or other publications
  • Arranging fee discounts with institutions and consortia and thus waive the fee for all researchers affiliated with institutions that have purchased an annual membership.
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