Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

A Look at Open Access Publication and Beall’s List of “Predatory” Journals

Martin S. Fiebert

The Internet has changed almost every aspect of communication, including publication of academic research. Currently approximately 10,000 open access (OA) journals exist in many disciplines yet some controversy has arisen. OA journals provide a rapid turn-around publication time and reach a wide readership, but questions are asked about fees for publication and “peer review” practices. Chief among OA critics is Jeffrey Beall [1] who has compiled a list of 9,219 open access journals that he terms “predatory.” This paper questions Beall’s approach, examines some of the issues in OA publication, and offers a way to evaluate OA journals.