184: A race to the bottom

Open access articles have democratized the availability of scientific research, but are author-paid publication fees undermining the quality of science?

The preprint by Morgan and Smaldino - https://osf.io/preprints/osf/3ez9v
Paul Smaldino's text book - Modeling social behavior

Main edisode takeaways (AI-assisted summary)

• There is a wide variability in the quality of papers published in gold open access journals and a wide variate of open access journals, some of which prioritise quality research
• Diamond open access and green open access are alternative models to consider.
• The publishing industry needs more transparency and mandatory reporting of data. The pressure to publish more can lead to a crowding out problem and a focus on quantity over quality.
• Determining the quality of journals and papers is challenging, and there are varying levels of quality within different tiers of journals.
• Fraudulent publishing practices, such as paper mills and fake papers, can be facilitated by the market for publishing.
• The Publons service (R.I.P) and similar platforms can improve the transparency of peer review and provide a record of reviewers' contributions.
• Society journals may offer a better publishing model as they have a reputation to maintain and are less likely to prioritize quantity over quality.

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Citation

Quintana, D. S., & Heathers, J. (2024, Sept 5). 184: A race to the bottom, Everything Hertz [Audio podcast], https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/3MUJV