Posted on

Which is a better choice: Open Access or Subscription Journal?

 

Researchers have to consider many factors before deciding whether to publish in a traditional subscription journal or an open access (OA) journal. The most important factors are the visibility of a journal, the cost of publication, the impact factor of the journal, and the speed of publication. Internet of things has created a radical shift in the academic publishing model. Today, internet is being primarily used to connect, share, and communicate things all across the world.

Previously, collaborations with prestigious journals were required to know the latest emerging trends in a field of study. Researchers flocked libraries to get hold of the latest copy of their academic journal. Today, all information is available online and researchers can easily read scholarly articles online. Moreover, they can save important files on their personal computers. Everything is available at the click of a mouse.

The online publishing platform has two options: the traditional subscription model and the recently popular open access model. The traditional subscription model charges hefty fees from readers to access their journal online. On the other hand, the open access model enables all readers to access scholarly articles free of cost. The publication cost is borne by the authors who submit their manuscript for publication. Moreover, researchers today share their work through Twitter, social media sites, and blogs.

The OA publishing model has removed all barriers of scholarly communication. Today, so much research work is available online to the general public without causing deep holes in their pockets. But researchers still have to publish in prestigious peer-reviewed journals that follow subscription model. This is because most subscription journals have high impact factor and prestige in the academic community. In this article, we guide researchers on how to make the right choice between OA model and subscription model of publishing.

The visibility of the journal: Most researchers want to publish their articles in journals that have high visibility and readership. As the online format of OA journals is freely accessible to the public, they enjoy higher visibility and readership. Compared to subscription journals, OA journals have 89% higher rate of full-text downloads, and 42% higher rate of PDF downloads. Moreover, the unique visitors of OA journals were 23% higher than those of subscription journals. These are the findings of a latest survey published by OpenScience platform of De Grutyer Publications.

The cost of publication: The article processing charges (APC) differ depending on whether the journal is subscription based or open access. At the time of submission, authors are charged a small fee to offset the costs related to editorial and peer-review services. However, authors have to pay a hefty fee once their paper has been accepted for publication.

Most subscription journals charge authors 100-250 $ for publishing a single page, and 150-1000 $ for publishing a single figure in colored format. On the other hand, OA journals have a flat APC value, which can range from as little as 8$ to a sky-rocketing figure of 5000$. Some journals do offer partial waivers to authors with limited financial resources.

Today, libraries of prestigious institutions like Harvard are encouraging authors to follow OA model of publication. This is because most subscription journals charge a hefty fee for full online access of their articles. The annual subscription fee of some traditional journals is about 40,000 $. Today prestige is being replaced by the more reasonable OA model.

Journal Impact factor: Most OA journals are relatively new and they do not have impact factor, which is a measure of the journal’s prestige in the academic community. For example, Springer published 500 OA journals in 2013, but only 179 of these journals had an impact factor. Most authors of science and humanities only want to publish in journals with high impact factor, that is, journals that follow the traditional subscription model.

Nevertheless, some disciplines do have OA journals with high impact factor, and can be considered to be prestigious. For example, PLOS Biology and PLOS ONE follow complete OA model of publication, and yet manage to be ranked 1st and 10th most prestigious journals, based on their impact factor.

Many Chinese and European universities provide an extended tenure of professorship to researchers who have published in high-impact, peer-reviewed, prestigious journals. Most well-established journals still follow the traditional subscription model. Moreover, it is easier to get research grants if you have an impressive list of publications in high-impact subscription journals.

The speed of publication: In the survey conducted by the OpenScience platform, about 65-70% of science authors always considered the time taken to publish a paper after submission, that is, the speed of publication of a journal. Most peer-reviewed medical journals have a publication time of 21 months, causing a time lag between clinical trials and data publication. For patients awaiting new therapies, this time lag for data dissemination is discouraging.

Clinicians should consider publishing in OA journals, because they are speed up the review process and shorten publication time. The most prestigious OA journals such as PeerJ, PLOS ONE, etc. are devoted to accelerate the peer-review process. In 2013, a survey examined 135 journals indexed by SCOPUS. They found that OA journals had a significantly shorter publication time compared to traditional subscription journals. Thus, OA journal is recommended to researchers who wish to disseminate their findings rapidly.

In conclusion, the visibility of a journal, cost of publication, journal impact factor, and speed of publication are the most important factors to consider while making a choice between OA and subscription journals. The well-established researchers can opt for OA journals, while budding researchers may opt for subscription journals as they still have to make a name for themselves in the academic community.

Nevertheless, the OA model is here to stay and it been popularized by the growing readership on the internet. Information platform has now shifted to online model modes from the traditional print model, which is dying with due course. Most prestigious universities are canceling their contracts with costly subscription journals. Harrisco offer journal selection service to all researchers who find it difficult to make this important decision. Harrisco is the no.1 academic editing company in Seou, South Korea.

 

Posted on

How to Select the Best Journal for Manuscript Publication

 

In academia, it is absolutely essential for a researcher to publish papers in different peer-reviewed journals of a particular field of study. In this way, researchers present their work to the scientific community. “Publish or Perish” is the mantra of scientific publishing.

In fact, a researcher is considered to be productive only when he or she publishes a decent number of papers in high quality journals.The scientific publishing process is exhaustive for any researcher. A researcher has to select an appropriate journal for publishing his or her paper. The researcher has to then go through the comprehensive review process of the journal.

Finally, the paper is published in the journal after undergoing minor or major revisions. Nevertheless, papers published in peer-reviewed journals are seen as stepping stones towards a successful career in academia. These papers are considered by authorities approving research grants and funding.

Most international researchers find it difficult to select a suitable journal for manuscript publication. Remember, even if the paper includes some path-breaking results, it may not get adequate recognition in the scientific community if it is published in an unsuitable journal.

Moreover, a paper that does not fit within the scope and objectives of a journal is often rejected by editors. Due to these reasons, journal selection is the most important step after manuscript preparation. In this article, we recommend five points for selecting an appropriate journal for manuscript publication.

1.  Take a look at the reference list to know the journals recommended by experts      

In an academic paper, authors usually cite a large number of references. The authors must take a look at the journals in which the cited articles are published. There may be instances wherein many papers have been published in the same journal. In such cases, authors must find out if the published papers have content that is related to their manuscript. If the answer is yes, then they may consider the journal suitable for publishing their manuscript.

2. Compare the scope and objective of the journal with the aim of the study

Authors must determine whether the aim of their study matches with the scope of a journal in their field. In general, a journal’s website will always provide the scope of the journal. The journal’s website also provides a significant list of criteria that must be satisfied by an article submitted to the journal.

Thus, authors can get a clear picture of whether their manuscript is suitable for publication in a specific journal. Let’s understand better with an example: the Journal of Molecular Biology only publishes articles that describe various topics of molecular biology, which includes gene expression, cell signaling, and DNA replication.

3. Cautiously consider SCImago Journal Rank and Journal Impact Factor

The journal impact factor is a metric that reflects the quality of a journal. This metric indicates the average number of citations received by published articles of a journal over a period of one year. The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) is based on a specific algorithm that measures the ranking of a journal. Thus, the metric SJR can be considered to be a good alternative to the journal impact factor.

In general, the impact factor and SJR of a journal are published on the journal’s website. The quality of a journal can be assessed from these metrics. It is prestigious to publish in journals with high impact factor. Researchers find it easy to get recognition and funding when they have a list of publications in journals with high impact factor. Nevertheless, the rejection rate of these journals is very high, and the quality of a journal is not solely determined by its impact factor.

Some scientific publishers display on their website a list of journals and their impact factor. The most widely-known list is the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), which is published by Thomson Reuters. In general, a researcher has to be affiliated to an institution or university to access this report. The publisher Elsevier has come up with Scopus database, which freely provides the list of international journals with SCImago Journal Rank (SJR).

4. Consider the turnaround time of the academic journal

In general, the process of peer review governs the turnaround time of an academic journal. The peer review process directly determines the quality of published articles. The journal’s website will usually display the date of submission and the date of publication of an article. Based on this information, authors can fairly estimate the journal’s turnaround time.

Alternatively, researchers can determine the journal’s turnaround time by counting the number of articles published by the journal in a particular year. Academic journals may be published monthly, quarterly, or annually. However, the peer review process is accelerated by journals that use an online submission system for accepting manuscripts.

5. Consider the journal’s constraints

Before submitting their manuscript to a journal, authors must thoroughly read through the “instructions to authors” webpage. They can thus avoid situations where they have not complied with manuscript preparation guidelines of a journal. For example, most journals have set a wordcount limit for their articles. In case an article does not fulfill the wordcount limit, it is rejected outright by the journal’s editors.

Another cause of concern is the cost of publication. Researchers from developing countries do not really have the budget to fulfill the high cost of publishing in high impact journals. They should consider publishing in less-known journals that do not charge publication fees from authors.There are thousands of academic journals, so selecting the right journal for manuscript publication can be an intimidating task.

Harrisco is an academic editing company that offers “journal selection help” to authors. Remember that submission to a wrong journal not only attracts rejection but also wastes precious time and resources. It is not easy to publish in peer-reviewed academic journals, but Harrisco guides the authors through the complete publication process and ensures that their work gets published in high-quality journals.

Besides, Harrisco also offers academic editing, peer review, and translation services. Moreover, it regularly holds academic writing workshops for international researchers, thereby bridging the barrier between academia and publishing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on

The Significance of Journal Impact Factor in Academic Publishing

Most academics who have published papers in scientific journals are familiar with the term “impact factor.” So, what exactly is impact factor of a journal? Scientific journals are ranked by a metric known as “impact factor.” Thomson Reuters is an academic publisher that has come up with a database of impact factors of journals. Although it is primarily used a library resource, it is also very good to attract papers for publications.

Impact factor is a crucial yet controversial metric in scientific publishing. Based on the impact factor of a journal, scientists decide whether it is suitable to publish their work. The impact factor of a journal is a metric that describes the visibility range of a journal. In general, journals with high impact factor are considered to be prestigious in a particular field.

How did journal impact factor gain significance in academic publishing?  

Academic publishers felt that journals should be ranked according to their impact or significance. To address this concern, they devised a metric known as “journal impact factor.” The impact factor of a journal indicates the patterns and frequency of citations of a journal.

The origins of “Impact Factor” can be dated back to the year 1955. In an issue of the journal Science, Eugene Garfield first expressed the need for a metric that ranks journals on the basis of their impact on research. Eugene Garfield was an information scientist who came up with this idea in 1955.Eugene Garfield worked with Irving Scher, who was her colleague in the field of information sciences. Together, they introduced the metric “impact factor” in the year 1960.

The “journal impact factor” ranked all scientific journals after comparing the difference between their sizes and their network of circulation.  The impact factors of all scientific journals were presented in the form of a database, which was termed as the “Science Citation Index (SCI).” This database was first published by the Institute for Scientific Information. Eugene Garfield was the founder of this institute. Later on, the database was rechristened as “Journal Citation Reports (JCR)” and was published by Thomson Reuters, a well-known academic publisher.

How to determine the impact of a journal, and which journals are associated with it

Eugene Garfield determined the number of citations received by papers published in a scientific journal over a span of two years. Then, Eugene Garfield divided this number with the total number of papers that were published in that particular journal over a time period of two years.

As research is carried out at a different pace in different fields of study, Eugene Garfield compared a journal with other journals of the same field. In other words, a medical journal was compared with other medical journals. Similarly, a journal on ecology was grouped with other journals of ecology.

Although impact factor largely depends on a journal, it is also affected by the research conducted in a field of study. In the year 2009, the impact factor 87.925 was the highest for a scientific journal. However, the next highest impact factor was only 50. Thus, the field of study and the related research work significantly affects the impact factor of a journal.

Every two years, JCR is published by Thomson Reuters in the month of June. For example, the database published in 2016 presents the journal impact factors for the time period of 2014-2015. About 9000 journals were included in the JCR database of 2009. However, this database includes only 25% of all the published journals. Moreover, it mainly comprises of journals in English language.

Why it is necessary to know about a journal’s impact factor

According to Eugene Garfield, impact factor is a metric that reflects a journal’s prestige in the scientific community. Scientists often see the journal’s impact factor to decide whether it is suitable for publication. By publishing their papers in scientific journals of high impact factor, scientists can gain more respect in their community. Moreover, they also gain other benefits, such as better access to research funding, an extension of tenure, recruitment to prestigious institutions, and promotions at universities. Nevertheless, journal impact factor cannot be considered as a sole criterion for the integrity of a journal or a research study.

The editors of journals always make an effort to increase the impact factor of their journals. Sometimes, these editors request authors to increase citations in the papers submitted for publication in their journal. This is an unethical practice and should not be conceded at all costs. The impact factor of a journal is a metric used in information sciences: it does not govern the quality of a research work.

The controversies and problems of journal impact factor 

The journal impact factor’s indiscriminate use in academic employment industry has been severely criticized by many information scientists, including Garfield. The significance of an author’s research work cannot be solely estimated from the journal’s impact factor. Impact factor should always be considered along with other parameters of evaluation, such as the peer review process.

It should be noted that smaller fields of study attract lesser citations, so the journals of these niche fields have lower impact factor. These journals may contain papers of path-breaking research work. The impact factor of a journal should always be compared with that of a journal in the same field of study. The impact factor of a journal is not really an indication of the significance of a research work.

At this stage, it is also necessary to point out the problem associated with prestigious journals. Because these journals have a high impact factor, it is really very difficult to publish papers. This is because the rejection rate of such journals can be as high as 75%. Remember, the main aim of a researcher is to get their work published in a peer reviewed journal. Therefore, researchers must not just limit their efforts to high impact journals. They should consider all other factors while deciding which journal is most suitable for their work.

Which metrics can be considered as good alternatives to journal impact factor?

Since the significance of impact factor has been very controversial, researchers are advised to use other alternative metrics, such as SCImago Journal & Country Rank, the h index, Scopus, and the Eigenfactor. In the year 2005, Jorge Hirsch was a physicist who developed the h index. This metric compared the author’s total number of published papers with the number of citations received by those published papers. In other words, it evaluated the productivity of an author in academia.

The Web of Science is an index that uses the metric Eigenfactor. This metric measures the frequency of citation of a published paper over a period of five years. It thus determines how influential the article is in a particular field of study.In the metric The SCImago Journal & Country Rank, a database of journals was provided. This database was based on the rankings and the visibility received by journals, which were further organized according to their types. It comprehensively covered all international publications. Scopus is a database based on abstracts and citations. This database is published by the noted scientific publisher, namely, Elsevier.

 How should journal impact factor be used by researchers in academia?

Although journal impact factor is an important metric to be considered before publishing a paper in a scientific journal, it should never be considered as the sole criterion for evaluating the quality of a journal. The decision to submit and publish a paper should never be made on the basis of the journal’s impact factor. It is always essential to assess the scope and objectives of a journal and then determine the possibility of your paper getting published in that journal. Harrisco is a company that provides complete publication support to authors and can help authors in journal selection, peer review, language editing, and translation. Harrisco is a name to reckon with in the academic publishing industry as it has been in business since 1997.

 

Posted on

What is real research impact: downloads or citations

The world of scientific publishing has undergone a metamorphosis, with most scientific articles being published online.  To measure the impact of scientific data, many concerted efforts have been made to develop new tools. Rather than waiting for publication of citations in the print media, these tools help us to decipher the impact of tools in the online medium.

One of the most prominent journal metric is the “download impact factor.” It is defined as the rate at which articles are downloaded from a journal. This tool is similar to the “journal impact factor.”  Another prominent tool for this usage is the Journal Usage Factor, which is calculated on the basis of mean and not median. Although there are many social network metrics, the download networks estimate the information through clicks and not download logs.

To determine the measure of journal impact, both citations and download data log have been defined. A single indicator cannot be used to measure the impact of scientific journals. Most researchers now believe that indicators measuring the download data have greater impact today given the firm grasp of online media.

The download frequency of a journal would not be affected by the impact factor. In terms of absolute value, there is a strong correlation between citation and frequency of download for a journal. Furthermore, there is moderate correlation between download number and journal impact factor.

Scopus is a very useful tool to measure citation data. On the other hand, ScienceDirect is a tool to measure the number of downloads. Both these tools are used to comprehend the relationship between download and citations. Thus, the influence on publication output is measured.  Scopus is an impact tool that does not include conference papers and abstracts. ScienceDirect is a measuring tool that includes the impact of all kinds of papers.

Scopus is a measure of the time taken for a paper to be cited, whereas downloads is the tool that measures the innovative value of papers.  In each subject area, “excellent” papers were those that had a large number of “mean downloads.”

In both English and non-English journals, there was a strong correlation between downloads and citations. There were journals whose papers were downloaded in great numbers but these downloads did not really result in citations.

For individual papers, correlations are weaker than that of journals; however, they are markedly more significant than sample size.  The number of downloads depends on the how well circulation is the journal. It does not really depend on novelty. Quality of paper is reflected in terms of citations today. Journals that have wide circulation and diffusion would have many downloads, but that does not really correspond with citations.

Papers published in journals with low impact would have less number of downloads, regardless of whether these papers receive many citations later. This implies that download data cannot be considered as a predictor of citation, especially when the journal has lower significance in its early years.

In English journals, the number of downloads is slightly less than citation for papers. In non-English journals, the number of downloads is slightly more than the number of citations. In non-English journals, the correlation between citations and downloads seems to be much lesser.