Graduate Programa of Library and Information Science, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil.
Department of Librarianship, Information Science and Audiovisual Communication, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
PLoS One. 2020 Jun 5;15(6):e0233432. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233432. eCollection 2020.
The essential role of journals as registries of scientific activity in all areas of knowledge justifies concern about their ownership and type of access. The purpose of this research is to analyze the main characteristics of publishers with journals that have received the DOAJ Seal. The specific objectives are a) to identify publishers and journals registered with the DOAJ Seal; b) to characterize those publishers; and c) to analyze their article processing fees. The research method involved the use of the DOAJ database, the Seal option and the following indicators: publisher, title, country, number of articles, knowledge area, article processing charges in USD, time for publication in weeks, and year of indexing in DOAJ. The results reveal a fast-rising oligopoly, dominated by Springer with 35% of the titles and PLOS with more than 20% of the articles. We've identified three models of expansion: a) a few titles with hundreds of articles; b) a high number of titles with a mix of big and small journals; and c) a high number of titles with medium-size journals. We identify a high number of titles without APCs (27%) in all areas while medicine was found to be the most expensive area. Commercial publishers clearly exercise control over the scope of journals and the creation of new titles, according to the interests of their companies, which are not necessarily the same as those of the scientific community or of society in general.
期刊作为记录各个知识领域科学活动的重要载体，其所有权和访问类型引发了人们的关注。本研究旨在分析获得 DOAJ 认证的期刊出版商的主要特征。具体目标包括：a）识别获得 DOAJ 认证的出版商和期刊；b）对这些出版商进行特征描述；c）分析其文章处理费。研究方法涉及使用 DOAJ 数据库、Seal 选项和以下指标：出版商、标题、国家、文章数量、知识领域、以美元计算的文章处理费、出版周期（以周为单位）以及在 DOAJ 中的索引年份。研究结果揭示了一个快速崛起的寡头垄断市场，其中 Springer 以 35%的期刊标题和 PLOS 超过 20%的文章占据主导地位。我们已经确定了三种扩展模式：a）少数几个标题拥有数百篇文章；b）大量标题，其中包含大小期刊的混合；c）大量标题与中等规模期刊相结合。我们发现所有领域都有相当数量的标题没有收取 APC（27%），而医学领域是最昂贵的领域。商业出版商根据其公司的利益，显然对期刊的范围和新标题的创建进行了控制，这些利益不一定与科学界或整个社会的利益一致。
