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.