Open access journals are of poorer quality than traditional subscription-based journals.
Studies show that Open Access journals can be of the same quality, or even higher quality, than some subscription journals.
The Directory of Open Access Journal's Seal of Quality certifies a list of over 1000 journals that have high publishing standards and adhere to publishing best practices.
With the increase in OA publication, additional ways of measuring quality, such as article-level metrics, are becoming more popular, and the more traditional journal impact factor continues to receive criticism from the scholarly community.
The peer-review process is not as rigorous in open access journals as it is for subscription journals.
With the changing publication landscape, it is important for authors and readers to get into the habit of critically evaluating the research and literature they consume.
Publishing my work open access is an altruistic thing to do, but there is no benefit for me.
Open Access publications do have economic and social benefits, but they also have academic benefits for individual authors.
Multiple studies have shown increases in article-level metrics for open access articles, such as citation count, article download, and share rate.
Publishing in a subscription journal closes the door on making the same work open access.
Authors can ask the journal they are publishing with to let them retain the right to post a version of their article in a subject or institutional repository.
Many journals have also developed policies which allow authors to make their work open access in a digital repository after a specified embargo period.
If I want to publish open access, I will have to pay the Author Processing Charges (APC's) myself.
Many open access journals are supported by society, or outside funders and do not charge any APC's. Check out the DOAJ's list of journals that do not charge APC's.
In addition, when APC's are required to publish in a journal, many institutions, including Jefferson, also offer financial assistance with APC's through open access funds. Grant funding can also often be used to pay journal APC's.
Publishing my article open access in a journal means that I will automatically comply with my funder’s OA policy.
Some funders, such as the NIH, require that authors submit articles that have been written with grant funds to their proprietary open access repository.
Open access publications will not count towards promotion and tenure.
If an article is published in an open-access journal with a good reputation and peer review process, there is no good reason why it would not count for promotion or tenure.
However, there is still much that P&T committees can do to fully support the open access movement and encourage faculty to submit to these publications.
