Hybrid Open Access Journal - Advantages and Disadvantages To The Author

Advantages and Disadvantages To The Author

The author wanting to publish in an open-access journal, is not limited to the relatively small number of "full" open access journals, but can also choose from the available hybrid open-access journals, which includes journals published by many of the largest academic publishers.

The author must still find the money. Many funding agencies are ready to let authors use grant funds, or apply for supplementary funds, to pay publication fees at open-access journals. (Only a minority of open-access journals charge such fees, but nearly all hybrid open-occess journals do so.) So far, the funding agencies that are willing to pay these fees do not distinguish between full and hybrid open-access journals. On October 19, 2009, one such funding agency, the Wellcome Trust, expressed concerns about hybrid open-access fees being paid twice, through subscriptions and through publication fees: Wellcome Trust calls for greater transparency from journals on open-access publishing costs.