From: Richard Poynder <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 16:43:14 +0000

Based in Switzerland, the open access publisher Frontiers was founded
in 2007 by Kamila and Henry Markram, who are both neuroscientists at
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.

A researcher-led initiative envisaged as being “by scientists, for
scientists” the mission of Frontiers was to create a
“community-oriented open access scholarly publisher and social
networking platform for researchers.”

Like most successful open access publishers Frontiers has attracted
controversy along the way. There have been complaints, for instance,
about its peer review process (including an oft-repeated claim that
its editorial system does not allow papers to be rejected), complaints
about the level of “spam” it bombards researchers with, and complaints
that its mode of operating is inappropriately similar to the one used
by multi-level marketing company Amway.

Frontiers has also attracted criticism for publishing a number of
controversial papers, and in 2014 it was accused of caving in to
specious libel threats by retracting a legitimate paper.

The wave of criticism reached a peak last October when Jeffrey Beall
added Frontiers to his list of “potential, possible, or probable
predatory scholarly open-access publishers”.

But Frontiers has no shortage of fans and supporters, not least
amongst its army of editors and authors. It has also received public
support from a number of industry organisations.

Supporters suspect that much of the criticism comes from researchers
who have failed to understand, or are not comfortable with, Frontiers’
distinctive “impact-neutral” collaborative peer review process.

A detailed Q&A with CEO and Co-Founder of Frontiers Kamila Markram can
be read here:

http://poynder.blogspot.ca/2016/02/the-oa-interviews-kamila-markram-ceo.html

Richard Poynder