Taxacom: open access journals

Mon Jul 31 17:35:52 CDT 2023

I can't believe it has taken you guys so long to react to the Open Access Scam, which I have posted about here on Taxacom for years! There are two main factors involved. You have touched on the one to do with impact factor. Trying to include taxonomy into the broad area of impact factor metrics is entirely inappropriate. It leads to all sorts of problems, such as naming species after celebrities so as to generate publicity. The reality is that very few readers will be immediately interested in any one taxonomic article, but it is nevertheless a very valuable part of a much larger whole. You can build a very interesting house out of bricks, despite the fact that each individual brick is of low interest to anyone!
The other factor with Open Access is to do with the strategic spending of external funding, by corporate research entities. Remember that they are spending other people's money, if it is external funding and the economics of spending other people's money is very different to the economics of spending one's own money. I can elaborate if anyone is interested.
Stephen    On Tuesday, 1 August 2023 at 09:19:34 am NZST, John Grehan via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:  

 I will back up Lynn's comments, especially with respect to ZooNova
(excellent outlet). I have also seen how 'newsletters' of some
organizations (NZ Ent Soc, Lepidopterist Society) generate 'publications'
that are just as good as any commercial product, and yet cost author's
nothing. Sadly, I have at least one colleague with whom I collaborate ask
that we publish co-authored papers in journals with 'high' indices because
that is required of the 'employer' to help keep their job. It's a racket
for sure.

John Grehan

On Mon, Jul 31, 2023 at 4:52 PM Lynn Raw via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
wrote:

> In the article they say that quality publishing is expensive. That is only
> the case with paper publishing. Open Access is by its very nature an online
> only digital format far less expensive to provide than the older print
> journals and with no extra costs for colour. It seems the whole process of
> using citation and other indices rather than the actual quality of the
> content is a commercial profit driven hoax promoted by the publishers for
> the benefit of their executives and shareholders. It also gives university
> administrators numbers that they can understand whether or not they have
> any idea of the content. Even the highly esteemed Nature sometimes
> publishes suspect papers. Open access is the ideal low cost publishing
> system for societies as the only cost lies in the website maintenance and
> development, web server operation and maintenance of the domain
> registration.
> At the moment I am running a small scale OA journal at NO COST to the
> authors so the model can operate with the right support and volunteers
> whatever argument is given against it. Obviously it is not a commercial for
> profit model but it is something that can meet a need for both authors and
> users of scientific articles.
>
> Lynn Raw
> Independent Researcher & Editor
>
>
>
> > On 31 Jul 2023, at 21.15, Michael Heads via Taxacom <
> taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I've criticised the new 'Open Access' publishing model for journals as a
> > scam, and here's a new article in J. Biogeogr. against it (note that it
> > doesn't mention publishing scientists who are amateur or retired):
> >
> > https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fonlinelibrary.wiley.com%2Fdoi%2F10.1111%2Fjbi.14697&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C05020b123cbe4747475e08db9216828e%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638264397613760007%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=uloBDNiUuexVKuPId5XAIPTk3gRsNzEzdB2cVAZG8Gg%3D&reserved=0
> > 'Shifts to open access with high article processing charges hinder
> research
> > equity and careers'
> >
> > --
> > Dunedin, New Zealand.
> >
> > My books:
> >
> > *Biogeography and evolution in New Zealand. *Taylor and Francis/CRC, Boca
> > Raton FL. 2017.
> >
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.routledge.com%2FBiogeography-and-Evolution-in-New-Zealand%2FHeads%2Fp%2Fbook%2F9781498751872&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C05020b123cbe4747475e08db9216828e%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638264397613760007%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=j5xhMOMi7Bt8L3a6CJbeMyahOHpL1JYhqtynLObCrMs%3D&reserved=0
> >
> >
> > *Biogeography of Australasia:  A molecular analysis*. Cambridge
> University
> > Press, Cambridge. 2014. https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cambridge.org%2F9781107041028&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C05020b123cbe4747475e08db9216828e%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638264397613760007%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UGZxU7YSfD6wc2J3Fe%2FDlamQC4WRudLqLTVpxXuX%2B0Y%3D&reserved=0
> >
> >
> > *Molecular panbiogeography of the tropics. *University of California
> Press,
> > Berkeley. 2012. https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ucpress.edu%2Fbook.php%3Fisbn%3D9780520271968&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C05020b123cbe4747475e08db9216828e%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638264397613760007%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=5Krq3Ci4U5JJVaYh3zC9yUhGXbu35ICVgNku%2BTrRrkA%3D&reserved=0
> >
> >
> > *Panbiogeography: Tracking the history of life*. Oxford University Press,
> > New York. 1999. (With R. Craw and J. Grehan).
> > https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.co.nz%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DBm0_QQ3Z6GUC&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C05020b123cbe4747475e08db9216828e%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638264397613760007%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=fq7CjNNT8Q%2BiA%2B1XpeqjK9bNMjeenKG1SSkUj%2BkG6GI%3D&reserved=0
> > <
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.co.nz%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DBm0_QQ3Z6GUC%26dq%3Dpanbiogeography%26source%3Dgbs_navlinks_s&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C05020b123cbe4747475e08db9216828e%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638264397613760007%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2BqrHXBtDw%2BNa1XNXDlrCl1UgnIBl4EkAhLfq9MbsRaM%3D&reserved=0
> >
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> >
> > Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity and admiring alliteration for
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> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity and admiring alliteration for
> about 36 years, 1987-2023.
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Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity and admiring alliteration for about 36 years, 1987-2023.