Impact of Open Access Papers in Hybrid Journals
D
uring the last couple of years, the pros and cons of Open Access (OA) have been debated in various blogs, editorials, and scientific magazines. The removal of the paywall for readers has made OA popular among researchers and administrators since these papers can be freely accessed across the globe. While OA removes the paywall for the readers, it creates a paywall for the authors. OA charges vary from a few hundred to several thousands of dollars. Today, proponents and several funding agencies encourage authors to make their papers open access without realizing the unintended consequences.1 For example, a major drawback of OA is its inability to accommodate authors who have no funds to pay the APC (article processing or publishing charge). In response to popular demand, many publishers have introduced OA-only journals, the majority of which have yet to gain traction in terms of impact. Only a few OA journals (e.g., Nature Communications (Springer NPG), Science Advances (AAAS), Chemical Science (RSC), and ACS Central Science (ACS)) are gaining prominence as high-impact OA journals. Except for ACS Central Science, these journals charge a hefty APC (as high as $5200). On the other hand, mega journals such as Scientif ic Reports, PLoS One, RSC Advances, and ACS Omega charge a modest APC. The popularity of these mega journals can be seen from the large number of papers they publish (>50 000 papers in 2017). Despite this large volume, the impact factor of these journals has remained rather low (
