[GOAL] Re: June 30 2013 Dramatic Growth of Open Access

[Couture Marc]

Dana Roth wrote:

>
>  wouldn't it be more instructive if DOAJ would annotate their listings
> with a icon indicating that a journal or the journals from an identified
> publisher has 'made' Beall's List?
>

As much as I applaud Beall's initiative, which drew much needed attention to the phenomenon of 'questionable' OA journals/publishers (an adjective I find more appropriate than 'predatory'), I would oppose using 'as is" the fact that a specific journal appears on Beall's list.

There has been much discussion about the objectivity and transparency of the process leading to a journal/publisher appearing in the list, serious issues which Beall addressed by:

(1) publishing his criteria: http://scholarlyoa.com/?s=criteria

(2) establishing a four-member appeal board (names undisclosed, or so it seems) for publishers contesting their inclusion in the list: http://scholarlyoa.com/appeals/

However, it remains an (almost) single-person initiative.

There is also a grey zone between journals which seem outright scams, and others which are only low-quality, with equivalent (or even worst) ones found in the world of traditional, toll-access journals, for which no such black list exists to my knowledge.

So, if I were part of a more 'official' organization like DOAJ, I would hesitate to simply adopt (or endorse) Beall's judgements, as sound and well-founded as they may appear. One must point out that the 50-odd Beall's criteria, which aren't pass-or-fail conditions, must be carefully pondered in any specific case.

>
> Given the on-going concern about achieving broad acceptance of Open Access
> journals by researchers, wouldn't it be helpful to provide some guidance to
> help preclude a negative experience?
>

Certainly. DOAJ could seriously consider (1) warning users of its site about journal/publisher quality issues; (2) inviting them to take a look at Beall's criteria (and even his list) so that they make an informed decision when choosing a journal to submit their work.

As it has been discussed in this list a few weeks ago, DOAJ has proposed a series of criteria for inclusion of journals in its site. Three of them (characteristics of editorial board, minimum yearly paper output, no copyright transfer) touch upon issues considered by Beall. But whatever happens with DOAJ's proposed criteria, Beall's scheme will remain an invaluable tool.

Marc Couture