Not all fee-charging journals are predatory. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) one of the most prestigious American Science journals has page charges (and has had them for decades) as do most US society journals in my field. Similarly, newer open access journals - such as the highly reputable PLoS and BMC Series have (much higher) page charges because their mission is to bill the cost of production to the author (and ultimately research funder) rather than the reader. Major scientific funders then opted to fund page charges with their grants thus, although we pay to publish, we do not pay out of pocket and the reader reads for free. (These Open Access journals will also waive the fee for unfunded research and developing country authors). The open access movement was spawned by the actions of many of the major journal publishers in the sciences - Elseivier is a case in point, who raised subscription rates in the 1990s above the rate that most individuals and academic libraries could afford. The Open Access movement's laudable goals have unfortunately spurred the appearance of thousands of fake Open Access publications. So what distinguishes the authentic journal from the predatory? Most certainly NOT page charges. Predatory journals have no interest in advancing knowledge - academic, professional or commercial. Their 'prey' are actually authors of potentially authentic scholarly work who are denied the opportunity of peer review and are charged a fee to boot. Many well-meaning scholars have been stung by them once. Those who repeatedly publish in these journals are using them to game the system.
The criteria for inclusion on Beall's list of predatory journals are helpful https://scholarlyoa.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/criteria-2015.pdf
It is quite a long list but includes things like Editors and Editorial Boards without expertise, no evidence of an archive - hard copy or electronic, fake impact factors, republished article from other journals and extremely rapid publication turnarounds (making peer review unlikely). These are the criteria that literature databases will ultimately use as reasons not to index, assuming they are approached at all - most predatory journals wouldn't bother. Indexing and access are not their goals. Collecting spurious page charges in return for no service are.
There are low-quality journals that are not predatory and there are high-quality journals that make page charges. These are reasons why the predatory journals have effectively opened a deep and ugly pandoras box. I don't believe that chasing the journals is a cost-effective way to solve the problem. They are like hydras. Every one beheaded will sprout a pair more as long as there is a market for their services. The solution to predatory journals is not giving publications in them credit. The US is a hub for predatory journals but they have barely made impact on the academy. Publishing in wishy-washy journals is an easier way not to get tenure than not publishing at all. By contrast, fragmenting one piece of work and publishing it in six predatory or other low-quality journals is a faster way to get ahead in Nigeria than publishing in one high-quality journal. Doing no work at all and then publishing is even more profitable. Therein lies a problem and one that is challenging to fix in a broken academy
Best wishes,
Iruka
On Wed, Oct 7, 2015 at 9:58 AM, Tunde Oseni <tundeoseni@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Comrade Chambi,Your observation refers.1. The three scholars you knew in 2009 are not that young anymore. Of course, they are still young.2. The fee is charged for accepted papers in order to maintain a quality online journal with particular interest in African political issues. The call is clear on its mission.3. I hope you are doing great too in Tanzania. It was indeed nice meeting you in Cape Town six years ago.God bless you and your life endeavours.Yours sincerelyTunde Oseni--On 7 October 2015 at 14:29, Chambi Chachage <chambi78@yahoo.com> wrote:I know three of the members of the Editorial Board and I believe they are serious young scholars; now after reading our raging debate on 'predatory journals', I would like to get a fair assessment of the journal given that they say this:"Authors of accepted paper shall pay a processing fee of N10, 000 (ten thousand naira only). Or $ 50"By the way, at the risk of biasing responses, let me ask: If many African journals lack resources/subscriptions, why not charge a fee that will enable editors to publish journals of high quality, both in terms of their form and contents?
From: Tunde Oseni <tundeoseni@gmail.com>
To: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 5:50 PM
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Call for Papers: AJPS
--African Journal of Politics & Society (AJPS): Call for PapersAJPS is a quarterly online publication of the African Democracy Network (ADN). It is intended for African and Africanist scholars. It is accessible via a specialized website and linked with e-platforms, including Academia.edu and Googlescholar, making it globally visible and impactful. Its primary objective is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas across disciplines and academic orientations in the social sciences and humanities, especially studies with focus on African conditions.Editorial BoardDr. Tunde Oseni (Nigeria) Dr. Mary Poche (Tanzania)Dr. Jimmy Ssentongo (Uganda), Godfrey Eloho (Liberia)Thabani Mkhize (South Africa)SUBMITTED MAUNSRCIPTS SHOULD CONTAIN:(1) A short, informative title(2)Author (s) name (s) and affiliations(3)An abstract of about 100 words(4)The main of about 5000 words should include all elements, abstracts, references(5) Charts and figures should be created electronically, if not each chart or figure should be submitted on clean sheets, data used to create the figure should be submitted with each figure; tables should be typed and placed at the end of the paper(6) A list of references in alphabetical order(7) Short biographical sketch about each author.AJPS REFEFERNCE STYLEReferences are listed in the text (author, date: page); the list of references is alphabetized. The AJPS prefers the APA style.Authors of accepted paper shall pay a processing fee of N10, 000 (ten thousand naira only). Or $ 50ALL CORRESPONDENCEDr Tunde Oseni,Editor-in-chief, AJPS & Ag. Head, Department of Politics & IRLead City University,Ibadan, Nigeria
--Dr Tunde Oseni
Ag. Head, Department of Politics & IR
Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria
http://ng.linkedin.com/in/tundeoseni
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--Dr Tunde Oseni
Ag. Head, Department of Politics & IR
Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria
http://ng.linkedin.com/in/tundeoseni
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--
Iruka N. Okeke
Professor of Molecular Microbiology [On leave 2015/16]
Department of Biology, Haverford College
370 Lancaster Avenue
Haverford, PA 19041, USA
Tel +1 610 896 1470, Fax +1 610 896 4963
Adjunct Professor and MRC/ DFID African Research Leader
Faculty of Pharmacy
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
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