Email solicitation for scholarly work--a single researcher's perspective

Area of Science:

• Scholarly publishing
• Academic research dissemination

Background:

• The traditional subscription-based journal model has shifted towards open access (OA) publishing.
• OA publishing requires authors or institutions to pay publication fees.
• This shift has led to the emergence of predatory journals with high fees.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the nature and cost of open access publishing solicitations.
• To assess the appropriateness and transparency of OA journal solicitations.

Main Methods:

• Collected emails soliciting publication to an author in March 2015.
• Recorded open access (OA) publishing costs and data availability.
• Evaluated the relevance of solicitations to the author's expertise.

Main Results:

• Analyzed 41 unique solicitations; 49% were deemed appropriate.
• Open access fees were available in 66% of solicitations, averaging $475 (range $25-$1500).
• Only one journal, Medical Principles and Practice, offered true OA without fees.

Conclusions:

• Authors must thoroughly vet open access journals before submission.
• Be cautious of journals with unclear fee structures or irrelevant solicitations.