From: Laval Hunsucker <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2012 07:52:30 -0800

> The easiness is the problem.

?

Not to be persnickety, but :  Should we really consider the
easiness to be the problem ?  Rather than, well, just an
obvious facilitator ?  A non-trivial distinction ( as well as,
of course, a kind of tautology ) ?

Doesn't the problem remain i.a. one of ethics and even
sleaziness [ rhymes nicely with "easiness" :) ], of course,
but essentially ( from the other direction ) one of naïveté,
remissness, or both ?  Naïveté and remissness of the sort
that good scholars and researchers would not -- nay, do
not -- 'fall victim' to ?


- Laval Hunsucker
  Berlin Mitte


----- Original Message -----
> From: Anthony Watkinson <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2012 20:47:35 +0000
>
> Jeffrey has also written articles on this in The Charleston Advisor which
> have been reviewed carefully by the editorial group. My own take is that
> something is intrinsically wrong with the Open Access model, which leads to
> behaviour of the sort he describes by unscrupulous publishers. There were
> and probably are publishers in print which do not have proper arrangements
> for peer review. As I see it, the problem is that if one works from a low
> cost base it is very easy to start a whole tranche of journals which may not
> have a proper editorial structure (editorial board members advertised just
> because they have been asked and not accepted) and are not committed to
> building a sustainable journal list. The easiness is the problem.
>
> I understand that OASPA (the organisation of Open Access Publishers) does not
> take these people into membership and expels them when they are exposed.
> Unfortunately these publishers are rather good at marketing their services
> and at the first glance can look serious. Many academics especially in
> countries which are emerging into the international scholarly communication
> network can be naive and spend money on publishing papers which alas will
> bring them no credit or "impact".
>
> Anthony
> Georgetown U.