Mega journal

A mega journal (also mega-journal and megajournal) is a peer-reviewed academic open access journal designed to be much larger than a traditional journal by exercising low selectivity among accepted articles. It was pioneered by PLOS ONE. This "very lucrative publishing model" was soon emulated by other publishers.

Definition

A mega journal has the following defining characteristics:

broad coverage of different subject areas;
accepting articles for publication based on whether they are technically sound rather than selecting for perceived importance; and
using article processing charges to cover the costs of publishing, although it is also possible for a mega journal to function as a non-profit (one example is Open Library of Humanities).

Other less universal characteristics are

"an accelerated review and publication process", "fast turnaround time";
"academic editors", even "a large editorial board of academic editors", (instead of professional editors); and
value-added services such as reusable graphics and data through Creative Commons licenses.{{Cite journal|last=Björk|first=Bo-Christer|title=Have the "mega-journals" reached the limits to growth?|journal=PeerJ|volume=3|doi=10.7717/peerj.981|pmc=4451030|pmid=26038735|page=e981|date=2015-05-26 |doi-access=free }}

Mega journals are also online-only, with no printed version, and are fully open access, in contrast to hybrid open access journals. Some "predatory" open access publishers use the mega journal model.

Influence

It has been suggested that the academic journal landscape might become dominated by a few mega journals in the future, at least in terms of total number of articles published.Hayahiko Ozono, Okayama University, Participants' Report on The 5th SPARC Japan Seminar 2011. "Burgeoning Open Access MegaJournals". National Institute of Informatics. [http://www.nii.ac.jp/sparc/en/publications/newsletter/13/topics2.html]

Mega journals shift the publishing industry's funding standard from the subscription-based model common to traditional closed access publications to article processing charges.{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=David J.|title=A survey of authors publishing in four megajournals|journal=PeerJ|date=2014|volume=2|pages=e365|doi=10.7717/peerj.365|pmid=24795855|pmc=4006221 |doi-access=free }}

Their business model may not motivate reviewers, who donate their time to "influence their field, gain exposure to the most current cutting edge research or list their service to a prestigious journal on their CVs."{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1177/2158244013507271

| title = Open Access, Megajournals, and MOOCs: On the Political Economy of Academic Unbundling

| journal = SAGE Open

| volume = 3

| issue = 4

| pages = 215824401350727

| year = 2013

| last1 = Wellen

| first1 = R.

| doi-access = free

}}

Finally, they may no longer serve as "fora for the exchange ... among colleagues in a particular field or sub-field", as traditionally happened in scholarly journals.{{cite journal|last=Beall|first=Jeffrey |year=2013|title= The Open-Access Movement is Not Really about Open Access|journal= TripleC|volume=11|number=2|pages=589–597|doi=10.31269/triplec.v11i2.525 |doi-access=free|s2cid=142604306 }} To counter that indiscrimination, PLOS ONE, the prototypical megajournal, has started to "package relevant articles into subject-specific collections."{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001235| title = Why ONE is More Than 5| journal = PLOS Biology| volume = 9| issue = 12| pages = e1001235| year = 2011| last1 = MacCallum | first1 = C. J. | pmc = 3243728| doi-access = free}}

List of mega journals

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

PLOS ONE
ACS Omega
Scientific Reports
SAGE Open
Royal Society Open Science{{efn|Self-declared:{{cite web|url=http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/about|title=About|work=Royal Society Open Science}}}}
BMJ Open
PeerJ
Medicine (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins journal)
Biology Open
IEEE Access{{efn|Self-declared:New IEEE Open-Access "Mega Journal" Aims to Boost Technology Innovation {{cite web |url=http://www.multivu.com/mnr/61674-ieee-online-open-access-mega-journal-for-faster-peer-reviewed-publishing |title=New IEEE Open-Access Mega Journal Aims to Boost Technology Innovation |accessdate=2014-09-30 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006095803/http://www.multivu.com/mnr/61674-ieee-online-open-access-mega-journal-for-faster-peer-reviewed-publishing |archivedate=2014-10-06 }}}}
FEBS Open Bio
AIP Advances
G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics
Open Library of Humanities{{efn|Self-declared:{{cite web|url=https://www.openlibhums.org/about/media/press-release/|title=Press Release|work=Open Library of Humanities|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224053751/https://www.openlibhums.org/about/media/press-release/|archivedate=2014-12-24}}}}
De Gruyter Open imprint{{efn|Self-declared:{{cite web|url=http://degruyteropen.com/de-gruyter-open-converts-eight-subscription-journals-open-access-megajournals/|title=De Gruyter Open converts eight subscription journals to Open Access megajournals|work=De Gruyter Open |date=September 29, 2014 |access-date=2014-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224063251/http://degruyteropen.com/de-gruyter-open-converts-eight-subscription-journals-open-access-megajournals/|archive-date=2014-12-24|url-status=dead}}}}
Heliyon (Elsevier){{efn|Self-declared:{{cite web|url=http://www.elsevier.com/reviewers-update/story/innovation-in-publishing/introducing-heliyon-elseviers-new-broad-scope,-open-access-journal|title=Introducing Heliyon - Elsevier's new broad scope, open access journal|work=Elsevier Connect |first1=Mary Beth |last1=O'Leary |date=4 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310002046/http://www.elsevier.com/reviewers-update/story/innovation-in-publishing/introducing-heliyon-elseviers-new-broad-scope,-open-access-journal |archive-date= Mar 10, 2016 }}}}
IET The Journal of Engineering{{efn|Self-declared:{{cite web|url=https://digital-library.theiet.org/content/journals/joe |title= The Journal of Engineering |website=IET Digital Library |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002081337/https://digital-library.theiet.org/content/journals/joe |archive-date= Oct 2, 2023 }}}}}}

Notes

References

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

{{cite web|author=Claire Creaser|title= The rise of the mega-journal|date= 5 May 2014|website= School of Business and Economics Research Blog|publisher= Loughborough University|url=http://blog.lboro.ac.uk/sbe/centre-for-information-management/the-rise-of-the-mega-journal/}}

{{cite web|author=Jeffrey Beall|author-link=Jeffrey Beall|title=New Term: MOAMJ = Multidisciplinary Open Access Mega Journal |website=Scholarly Open Access |date=3 March 2013 |url=http://scholarlyoa.com/2013/03/05/new-term-moamj-multidisciplinary-open-access-mega-journal |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716114239/http://scholarlyoa.com/2013/03/05/new-term-moamj-multidisciplinary-open-access-mega-journal/ |archivedate=16 July 2014 }}

{{cite web|author=Francisco Osorio|title= Open Library of Humanities: mega journals seeing from the south|date= 5 April 2013|website= Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Chile|url=http://www.facso.uchile.cl/noticias/90036/open-library-of-humanities-mega-journals-seeing-from-the-south}}

{{cite web|url=http://exchanges.wiley.com/blog/2012/02/14/wiley-open-access-update-january-2012/|title=Wiley|access-date=2014-09-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025614/http://exchanges.wiley.com/blog/2012/02/14/wiley-open-access-update-january-2012/|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}

"Beyond open access for academic publishers", 15 May 2014, Publishing Technology PLC [http://www.publishingtechnology.com/2014/05/beyond-open-access-for-academic-publishers/]

{{cite report|author=Bo-Christer Björk|author2=David Solomon|name-list-style=amp |title=Developing an Effective Market for Open Access Article Processing Charges |date=March 2014 |pages=69 pages |publisher=Wellcome Trust |url=http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/stellent/groups/corporatesite/@policy_communications/documents/web_document/wtp055910.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140602195247/http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/stellent/groups/corporatesite/%40policy_communications/documents/web_document/wtp055910.pdf |archivedate=2014-06-02 }}

Dagmar Sitek & Roland Bertelmann, "Open Access: A State of the Art", 2 March 2014, Springer, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-00026-8_9 [http://book.openingscience.org/tools/open_access_state_of_the_art.html]

[http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0165359 Open-Access Mega-Journals: A Bibliometric Profile, November 18, 2016]

Transitioning from a Conventional to a ‘Mega’ Journal: A Bibliometric Case Study of the Journal Medicine, Publications 2017, 5(2), 7; doi:10.3390/publications5020007 [http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/5/2/7/htm]

Open-access mega-journals: The future of scholarly communication or academic dumping ground? A review [http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/JD-06-2016-0082]

{{Cite web |last=Pinfield |first=Stephen |date=2016-10-13 |title=Mega-journals: the future, a stepping stone to it or a leap into the abyss? |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/mega-journals-future-stepping-stone-it-or-leap-abyss |website=Times Higher Education |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523005824/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/mega-journals-future-stepping-stone-it-or-leap-abyss |archive-date= May 23, 2023 }}

James MacGregor, Kevin Stranack & John Willinsky, "The Public Knowledge Project: Open Source Tools for Open Access to Scholarly Communication", 2 March 2014, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-00026-8_11 [http://book.openingscience.org/tools/the_public_knowledge_project.html]

{{cite book|author=Peter Binfield|chapter= Novel Scholarly Journal Concepts|date= 19 January 2014| doi=10.1007/978-3-319-00026-8_10|title=Opening Science|pages= 155–163|editor=Sönke Bartling|editor2=Sascha Friesike|chapter-url= http://book.openingscience.org/tools/novel_scholarly_journal_concepts.html|isbn= 978-3-319-00025-1}}

{{cite web|url=http://occamstypewriter.org/trading-knowledge/2012/07/09/megajournals/|author= Frank Norman|title= Megajournals|date= 9 July 2012|website= Trading Knowledge|publisher=Frank Norman}}

Peter Binfield, "PLoS ONE and the Rise of the Open Access MegaJournal", The 5th SPARC Japan Seminar 2011, National Institute of Informatics, The 5th SPARC Japan Seminar 2011 February 29, 2012 [http://www.nii.ac.jp/sparc/en/event/2011/pdf/20120229_doc3_binfield.pdf] [http://www.slideshare.net/PBinfield/ssp-presentation4]

{{cite journal|last1=Beall|first1=Jeffrey|title=Five Predatory Mega-Journals: A Review|journal=The Charleston Advisor|date=2013|volume=14|issue=4|pages=20–25|doi=10.5260/chara.14.4.20|url=http://eprints.rclis.org/19815/2/TCA%20review%20april%202013.pdf}}

Rhodri Jackson and Martin Richardson, "Gold open access: the future of the academic journal?", Chapter 9 in Cope and Phillip (2014), p.223-248.

{{cite web|url=http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2015/december/american-chemical-society-announces-acs-omega-a-new-open-access-journal-serving-global-and-multidisciplinary-chemistry.html|author= Michael Bernstein|author2= Katie Cottingham, Ph.D.|name-list-style= amp|title= American Chemical Society announces ACS Omega, a new open access journal serving global and multidisciplinary chemistry|date= 14 December 2015|website= www.acs.org|publisher=ACS}}

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