Mega journal
A mega journal (also mega-journal and megajournal) is a peer-reviewed academic open access journal designed to be much larger than a traditional journal by exercising low selectivity among accepted articles. It was pioneered by PLOS ONE.[1][2] This "very lucrative publishing model"[2] was soon emulated by other publishers.
Definition
[edit | edit source]A mega journal has the following defining characteristics:
- broad coverage of different subject areas;[1][2][3][4][5]
- accepting articles for publication based on whether they are technically sound rather than selecting for perceived importance;[1][2][3][4][5][6] and
- using article processing charges to cover the costs of publishing,[1][3][5] although it is also possible for a mega journal to function as a non-profit (one example is Open Library of Humanities).
Other less universal characteristics are
- "an accelerated review and publication process",[2] "fast turnaround time";[6]
- "academic editors",[6] even "a large editorial board of academic editors",[5] (instead of professional editors); and
- value-added services such as reusable graphics and data through Creative Commons licenses.[7]
Mega journals are also online-only, with no printed version, and are fully open access, in contrast to hybrid open access journals.[7] Some "predatory" open access publishers use the mega journal model.[1]
Influence
[edit | edit source]It has been suggested that the academic journal landscape might become dominated by a few mega journals in the future, at least in terms of total number of articles published.[8] Mega journals shift the publishing industry's funding standard from the subscription-based model common to traditional closed access publications to article processing charges.[9] Their business model may not motivate reviewers, who donate their time to "influence their field, gain exposure to the most current cutting edge research or list their service to a prestigious journal on their CVs."[10] Finally, they may no longer serve as "fora for the exchange ... among colleagues in a particular field or sub-field", as traditionally happened in scholarly journals.[11] To counter that indiscrimination, PLOS ONE, the prototypical megajournal, has started to "package relevant articles into subject-specific collections."[12]
List of mega journals
[edit | edit source]- PLOS ONE[1][2][3][4][5][6][13][14][15][16][17]
- ACS Omega[18]
- Scientific Reports[2][3][5][6][15][17][19]
- SAGE Open[3][4][5][15][17][19]
- Royal Society Open Science[a]
- BMJ Open[2][3][5][15][17]
- PeerJ[2][4][5][13][14]
- Medicine (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins journal)[21][22][23][24]
- Biology Open[5][6][17]
- IEEE Access[5][25][b]
- FEBS Open Bio[5][6]
- AIP Advances[5][17]
- G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics[5][17]
- Open Library of Humanities[c]
- De Gruyter Open imprint[d]
- Heliyon (Elsevier)[e]
- IET The Journal of Engineering[f]
Notes
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b c d e f Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c d e f g Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c d e Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c d e f g Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Hayahiko Ozono, Okayama University, Participants' Report on The 5th SPARC Japan Seminar 2011. "Burgeoning Open Access MegaJournals". National Institute of Informatics. [1]
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b "Beyond open access for academic publishers", 15 May 2014, Publishing Technology PLC [2]
- ^ a b c d Dagmar Sitek & Roland Bertelmann, "Open Access: A State of the Art", 2 March 2014, Springer, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-00026-8_9 [3]
- ^ James MacGregor, Kevin Stranack & John Willinsky, "The Public Knowledge Project: Open Source Tools for Open Access to Scholarly Communication", 2 March 2014, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-00026-8_11 [4]
- ^ a b c d e f g Rhodri Jackson and Martin Richardson, "Gold open access: the future of the academic journal?", Chapter 9 in Cope and Phillip (2014), p.223-248.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Peter Binfield, "PLoS ONE and the Rise of the Open Access MegaJournal", The 5th SPARC Japan Seminar 2011, National Institute of Informatics, The 5th SPARC Japan Seminar 2011 February 29, 2012 [5] [6]
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Open-Access Mega-Journals: A Bibliometric Profile, November 18, 2016
- ^ Transitioning from a Conventional to a 'Mega' Journal: A Bibliometric Case Study of the Journal Medicine, Publications 2017, 5(2), 7; doi:10.3390/publications5020007 [7]
- ^ Open-access mega-journals: The future of scholarly communication or academic dumping ground? A review [8]
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ New IEEE Open-Access "Mega Journal" Aims to Boost Technology Innovation Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Further reading
[edit | edit source]- Bill Cope and Angus Phillips, The Future of the Academic Journal, 2nd ed., Chandos Publishing, Jul 1, 2014, 478 pages.
- Peter Binfield, "Open Access MegaJournals -- Have They Changed Everything?", Creative Commons New Zealand Blog
- Sönke Bartling & Sascha Friesike (Editors), Opening Science: The Evolving Guide on How the Web is Changing Research, Collaboration and Scholarly Publishing, Springer, 2014, Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)., 339 pp.