On 5 Jan 2017, at 00:25, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: "Peretsman-Clement, Gail" <[log in to unmask]>

Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2017 14:04:58 +0000

Dear Anthony & Colleagues,

 

Thank you for posting about Publications, MDPI’s open access journal covering scholarly communication. I wanted to add a little history from the start up period of this journal that may add additional perspective on the evolving reputation of this journal. It sounds like the journal’s practices have matured from their early days.  But there may be also be good reasons for the relatively tepid reputation of this journal.

 

The spoiler alert is that I resigned from the editorial board of Publications because of ethical concerns that it was a ceremonial editorial board, used to gain prestige for the journal, not to utilize our demonstrated expertise or experience.

 

When the journal was first starting, MDPI contacted me to serve on the Editorial Board (accepted) and, shortly thereafter, to serve as Editor in Chief (declined due to lack of EIC experience with new OA journals).  They addressed me as ‘Dr.’ in all correspondence and on the masthead, despite my explicit disclosure that my extensive did not possess a doctoral degree. As an editorial board member, I was never contacted for any matter concerning journal policies or directions or to perform a peer review. The only correspondence received were requests to promote the journal. I discussed concerns with a few other board members and found agreement that the handling of the board was, at a minimum, ‘odd’. This combination of circumstances ultimately led to my resignation.

 

This was a few years ago and clearly the journal management has evolved. The take home message for me has been that assessing OA journal reputation is a complex matter requiring careful analysis, not just strict application of formulaic criteria. New journal start ups may not be “predatory” by intention, but may make some newbie mistakes that hurt their reputation.

 

- Gail

 

Gail P. Clement  | Head of Research Services  | Caltech Library  | Mail Code 1-43  | Pasadena CA 91125-4300  | 626-395-1203

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5494-4806 | library.caltech.edu

 

             

 

From: LibLicense-L Discussion Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]CRL.EDU] On Behalf Of LIBLICENSE
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2017 12:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Publications, Volume 4, Issue 4 (December 2016) Released

 

From: Anthony <[log in to unmask]com> 

Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2016 10:12:54 +0000

 

I appreciate that this will not be accepted for posting until the end of the holiday season but I am sending on this notification because of recent correspondence on various lists about the lack of reputable open access journals in information science and publishing especially journals that cover scholarly communication. PUBLICATIONS is a reputable journal with a serious peer review process. I am on the editorial board and have been involved in some the peer review. Dr Alan Singleton, who will be known to some of you as the former editor of Learned Publishing, has edited the journal during the past year. Yes I suspect it is little known. Getting brands recognised is not easy.

 

Anthony