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Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

insidehighered.com

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Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#4
> Rooryck, who was editor of Lingua and now leads Glossa, said the most challenging aspect of starting a new open-access journal is securing funding to ensure it survives. He said Glossa is doing well and has more submissions now than Lingua did. Lingua has been described as a “zombie” journal by some scholars, but it continues to receive hundreds of submissions.

Is there a list of "zombie journals" somewhere? Would be interesting to see them all laid out.

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#5
post #2

The same thing happened with “Topology”, now “Journal of Topology”. After some years it was bought by Wiley and is no longer free... A journal is not an easy task to manage.

Often, journals aren't founded by the current publishers but instead by people who do actual research in that field. Then, a publisher approaches them and offers them a lot of money. Who would decline such an offer?

You are right, this move might just be a strategic measure to get more money from the publisher.

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#7
post #2

The same thing happened with “Topology”, now “Journal of Topology”. After some years it was bought by Wiley and is no longer free... A journal is not an easy task to manage.

And Wiley / ProjectDEAL just yesterday reached a breakthrough: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/01/groundbreaking-deal-m...

Suprisingly little coverage, but things aren't looking great for Elsevier.

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#8
I have so much respect for the editors who were willing to make this jump.

I've wondered if there is some cognitive dissonance between the strong feelings I have that scientific journals should be open access and my willingness to buy and use closed source software (even though I run an open source software foundation). But I don't think so.

Fundamentally, I think authors have the right to determine how their work is used. If they want it to be used and available as widely as possible, they should publish it under an open source license and in an open source journal. But when for-profit companies like Elsevier control the journals in which publication is necessary for getting tenure, they are restricting information flow and harming science with no countervailing benefits. Furthermore, many journal articles are supported by government grants, and it's just appalling to me not to have access to the results of research that I am paying for. (If not for https://sci-hub.tw/ obviously.)

I'm optimistic that the author-pays model of funding copy editing will work out and that for-profit journals will be seen in another couple decades as akin to leeching and phrenology.

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#9
post #8

I have so much respect for the editors who were willing to make this jump. I've wondered if there is some cognitive dissonance between the strong feelings I have that scientific journals should be open access and my willingness to buy and use closed source software (even though I run an open source software foundation). But I don't think so. Fundamentally, I think authors have the right to determine how their work is…

Except that leeching has benefits

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#10
post #5
post #2

The same thing happened with “Topology”, now “Journal of Topology”. After some years it was bought by Wiley and is no longer free... A journal is not an easy task to manage.

Often, journals aren't founded by the current publishers but instead by people who do actual research in that field. Then, a publisher approaches them and offers them a lot of money. Who would decline such an offer? You are right, this move might just be a strategic measure to get more money from the publisher.

That's not exactly the story with Journal of Topology. It's published by the LMS, which partnered with Wiley.
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