Blog Series: Patterns in Open Access Publishing - Pt. 1

Introduction:

How do forced migration authors make use of open access (OA) vehicles to disseminate their research results? To find out more about OA publishing patterns in the forced migration context, I undertook a study of 257 open access articles that I had referenced on my blog between 1 October 2019 and 15 March 2020, with details gathered on the following: 1) the types of open access used; 2) the journals in which they were published (i.e., what publication fees they charge if any, who the publishers are, etc.); and 3) the authors of these articles (i.e., where they were based according to their institutional affiliations, if they were solo or co-authors, etc.). More information about the methods used in my study will be provided in a separate paper.

These open access types were used to characterize the analyzed articles:
- diamond open access: used for articles in fully open access journals that do not require a fee to be paid in exchange for publication;
- gold open access: used for articles in fully open access journals that require an article processing charge (APC) to be paid in exchange for publication;
- hybrid open access: used for articles in conventional, subscription-based journals that require an article processing charge (APC) to be paid in exchange for open access publication (e.g., Journal of Refugee Studies, Journal of Migration and Ethnic Studies, etc.);
- green open access: used for articles published in conventional, subscription-based journals, whose authors deposit earlier versions in the form of preprints or postprints in institutional or subject repositories at no cost.

Overview of Results: OA Types

All four types of open access were well-represented in the sample set of 257 articles, as shown in the chart. Specific counts are as follows:
83 (32%) = diamond
75 (29%) = gold
60 (23%) = hybrid
39 (15%) = green (17 preprints & 22 postprints)

The various OA categories are examined in greater detail below.

1. Gold/Hybrid OA

Articles published for a fee were represented in the sample set to a moderately higher degree than  articles that were made freely available without payment of an APC: 135 (or 53%) gold and hybrid articles versus 122 (47%) diamond and green articles.

APCs

Data on the specific APCs charged by these journals reveal the following (all APCs were converted to US dollars for easier comparison):
- The range of gold OA APCs for 43 different journal titles was $71 to $5000, with an average of $1646 and a median of $1595.
- The range of hybrid OA APCs, also for 43 different titles, was $1300 to $5000, with an average of $2995 and a median of $3000.

Publishers


The publishers of gold and hybrid OA journals in my sample are almost exclusively based in Europe and North America, with a few exceptions as shown in the graph.

Gold open access publishers predominantly fall into two categories: 1) "commercial conventional" or publishers whose portfolios include both print and open access journals (e.g., BMJ, Elsevier, SAGE, Taylor & Francis, etc.), and 2) "commercial open access" or publishers who only publish open access titles (e.g., BioMed Central, MDPI, Public Library of Science, etc.). The average APC for the first publisher type was $1711 (for 17 different journal titles) and $1815 for the second (for 21 titles). The smallest group of gold OA publishers comprised societies/associations & universities/research institutes. The average APC for this publisher type was significantly lower, or $717 (for 5 different journal titles).

By definition, all hybrid OA publishers fall into the "commercial conventional" category. As noted above, their APCs were significantly higher than gold OA publication fees.

2. Diamond OA

The single OA category with the highest article count was diamond open access: 83 articles were published in 54 different journal titles. Unlike gold/hybrid journals, most of the diamond journals in this sample are primarily published by non-profit associations, universities or research institutes: 38 titles (or 70%) (see SA&UR in the pie chart). Notably, this publisher type also has a wider geographic representation, with more based in the Global South than any other publisher group (including Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, South Africa and Zimbabwe). An additional 12 diamond titles (22%) were published by "commercial conventional" entities on behalf of non-profits or governmental bodies that provided funding support for author fees.

3. Green OA

Forced migration authors were least likely to use the green route to open access. Despite the fact that it involves no fees and is the most flexible model in terms of allowing authors to publish in their journal of choice, green OA has typically experienced slower growth than other types of OA, in part because of certain publisher constraints that dictate when and where eprints can be deposited. The “when” involves embargo periods that limit access to the texts of postprints until a certain time period has passed (anywhere from 6 to 24 months), and the “where” refers to restrictions on the deposit location (e.g., institutional and subject repositories, personal web sites, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, etc.).

Details about the "when" and the "where" for the 39 green articles in my sample are as follows:

Publisher embargo periods for postprints

None = American Psychological Assoc.; Cambridge Univ. Press; Emerald Publishing; John Benjamins; SAGE Publishing
12 months = Brill; IOP Publishing; Springer Nature; Wiley (for STEM articles)
18 months = Taylor & Francis
24 months = Elsevier; Oxford Journals

Deposit locations

university institutional repositories = 19 postprints*; 2 preprints
academic social networks = 2 postprints; 8 preprints
subject repositories = 6 preprints
personal web site = 1 postprint
university departmental web site = 1 preprint

*15 in the UK, 2 in Australia, and 1 each in Italy and the Netherlands

Note that the publishers listed above that allow authors to deposit postprints immediately (no embargo period) also do not place any restrictions on the location of those deposits. In light of these liberal publisher policies, it is surprising that more authors do not pursue this type of open access.

The next post will focus on the authors of these open access articles.