"Indeed, African Journal of Herpetology APC is set by its publisher, Taylor & Francis, and is beyond the control of the Herpetological Association of Africa. The APC makes this the most expensive herpetology subject journal globally, resulting in potential authors seeking other venues for their work."
For #Elsevier / #RELX and other massive industrial publishers, increase in paper volume in #APC-driven open access is the main source of growth that is presented to investors. More papers needed to stay afloat in always-increasing proprietary bibliometric sea, bigger profits. On the other end of the business, surveillance backed analytics tools to insurance companies and law enforcement is the biggest growth driver.
These are the companies we have paid billions in public money to over a generation. Another 13% hike in profits, now £3 billion annually. When will we find the courage to say enough is enough?
"The journal was previously pub'd by #Wiley-Blackwell under a subscription…model…1989-2023. As of Jan 2024, the journal & its entire back catalogue will be pub'd by the Open Library of Humanities…Thanks to the #OLH’s #DiamondOA model (funded by an international network of more than 340 supporting #libraries), Zygon is now free to read and does not charge authors publication fees."
Update. Extra kudos to #Zygon for flipping from subscription-based non-OA to #DiamondOA. Based on the cases I've seen (i.e. anecdotally), I'd say that most subscription journals that flip to OA flip to #APC-based OA. They do that either because it's the only OA model they know about (depressingly common) or because it seems to be more lucrative and less risky.
Has anyone seen data on this? What % of subscription journals flipping to OA flip to APC-based OA and what % to diamond OA?
Background: An APC-based OA journal (Ecosphere from #Wiley) refused to publish a rebuttal article unless the rebuttal authors paid an #APC. Kudos to Web Ecology for publishing the rebuttal without an APC. Also see the Web Ecology editorial on this case. https://we.copernicus.org/articles/23/131/2023/
"Clearly, charging authors for brief, well-founded criticism of published articles creates a highly problematic disincentive to fruitful scientific discussion. This uncontroversial stance should enjoy universal support, but it currently does not…It is time to consider the damaging effects of charging authors for critical comments in [#APC-based] #OpenAccess journals."
The manual for my 1000VA BV1000I-MST #ups from #apc advises to connect devices directly to the unit. However, I have only connected my two PS-8RE III #furman#powerconditioner(s) to it, meaning that the devices themselves are connected to the power conditioners and not to the UPS. I can't think of any reason why this could be a problem. Am I missing something?
New study from #DeltaThink: "2022’s #OpenAccess market grew by a little over 24% from 2021. This is around 2/3 of the growth we saw in 2021…Growth in OA remains significantly above…the underlying…journals market. Just over 49% of all scholarly articles were published as paid-for OA in 2022, accounting for just under 20% of the total journal publishing market value." https://deltathink.com/news-views-market-sizing-update-2023/
#AISA8 Massari e Maltese (#unitn) raccontano la storia di un gruppo molto attivo per la scienza aperta, che spesso si scontra con l'insensibilità locale. Quanto spendiamo per gli #APC (pagare per scrivere): Unitn propone di fare un lavoro insieme per condividere i dati relativi con un formato concordato, in modo che siano collettivamente leggibili.
PS: As far as I can tell, the authors didn't distinguish #APCs paid by authors out of pocket from APCs paid by their employers or funders. The $17m is the total from all sources. I'd love to see a breakdown. https://suber.pubpub.org/pub/j1jk6hu9
If you've heard that Chinese research reforms "restrict" #OpenAccess publications, don't draw the wrong conclusion. The restrictions are merely "a prohibition to use research funding to pay for article processing charges (#APC), except for high-quality publications, and the blacklisting of #predatory journals." https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S1019331623020107
PS: Both are reasonable. Both are compatible with a strong preference for OA (tho this article doesn't discuss that).
I've seen 3 common explanations for why authors publish in #predatory journals: (1) they're deceived; (2) they're padding their resumes; (3) their work is weak.
"Many scientists from #LMICs…are rewarded with bonuses & promotions by their institutions [when they publish]…Many are likely to consider it worth paying an author publication charge [#APC] of $50 to secure a $300 research bonus for a guaranteed publication."
In this article, #OA means #APC-based OA. The authors don't mention or consider green or diamond OA, which charge no APCs.
It's good to explore ways to make APCs more affordable. But it's myopic to do that without comparing them to well-established ways to deliver no-APC OA.
Please help correct those who assume that all OA is APC-based OA.
Found out the used UPS I bought is missing a part that wires the batteries up properly... Sigh. Gonna ask the guy for a refund since he said he would if I couldn't find the batteries at the local place... Which I can't technically, not without that adapter. And after this, I really need to reconsider buying used for stuff like this, again. I just need gear that works at this point so I can get my projects done ...
Unless someone has a recommendation on where to find a battery harness like that, thst takes two batteries into one connector, because I've had zero success. #ups#repair#help#apc#electronics
T&F required an APC of £2700, "an unsustainable cost for…funders and…libraries in high income countries and an impossible cost for many in less advantaged countries."
Welcome to the Academic Research Community (ARC) Alliance, "a community of like-minded scholars supportive of a #nonprofit, altruistic, high-quality scholarly publishing alternative to standard publishing models. ARC Alliance utilizes a #Diamond Open Access model in which no article processing charge [#APC] is paid by Alliance member authors, publications are #OpenAccess, and #copyright is retained by authors." https://arc-alliance.unc.edu/
As in so many other cases, there are two errors here: (1) the false assumption that all or most OA journals charge #APCs, and (2) the false assumption that all paid APCs are paid by authors.
It's an editorial and didn't go through peer review.
Note the two common errors: (1) the false assumption that all or most OA journals charge #APCs and (2) the false assumption that all paid APCs are paid by authors.
Like so many similar pieces, it's an editorial that did not undergo #PeerReview.
"OA publishing allows publishers to generate revenue during the production process…Large commercial publishing houses have gained increasing control over the OA publishing market, which is moving towards an oligopoly market."
Project idea: a website that aggregates Article Processing Charges from a bunch of journals and compares them to each country's median salary and/or median PhD income and/or per capita science and technology budget and/or any other relevant metric.
As Voltaire could've said, if this doesn't exist, it needs to be created.