[GOAL] DOAJ, Impact Factor, and APCs

[Heather Morrison]

Early results of a pilot study on impact factor and APCs are now available. 

Highlights:

- 10% of the journals listed in Journal Citation Reports (journals with impact factor) are DOAJ journals 
- over 10 % of the journals listed in DOAJ have impact factors and are listed in JCR
- that's 1,146 DOAJ journals with IF
- both journals that do not charge APCs and journals that have APCs have impact factors (the latter has a higher percentage with IF)
- the average APC of IF journals in 2014 was double the overall average
- 80% of IF journals increased prices by 6% or more in the 5-month period from December 2013 to May 2014

Details and charts: http://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2015/06/01/doaj-impact-factor-and-apcs/

Conclusion: a large number of DOAJ journals now have impact factor. At least some of the APC journals with IF may be exploiting this status to raise prices far beyond inflationary levels. This warrants further investigation. For those seeking to support OA through APCs this has budgetary implications.

best,



-- 
Dr. Heather Morrison
Assistant Professor
École des sciences de l'information / School of Information Studies
University of Ottawa
http://www.sis.uottawa.ca/faculty/hmorrison.html
Sustaining the Knowledge Commons http://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/
Heather.Morrison at uottawa.ca