Emerging platforms 
for 
open access publication



PeerJ and PeerJ PrePrints

What is PeerJ?


  • Medical & biological sciences journal
  • Associated with preprint server (PeerJ PrePrints)
  • Open Access (CC-BY) with no embargoes
  • Author pays one-time membership 
  • Membership includes yearly publication(s)

Business Model


  • Each author listed must be a member 
  • Three tiers:
    • Basic (once per year for life)
    • Enhanced (twice per year for life)
    • Investigator (Unlimited)
  • Institutions can subscribe, allowing their faculty free or discounted publishing
  • Membership requires one review/comment per year
  • Avg  peer-review article costs $5,333
  • PLoS ONE was heralded for low cost of $1,350 per article

Review Process

  • Single-blind review (reviewers know authors)
  • Expected acceptance rate of ~70% (based on similar journals)
  • Judges on scientific and methodological soundness only
    • Not lack of novelty, interest, or impact
    • Must be a research paper
    • Median days to first decision: 24

    Open review and commenting

    • Encourages open peer review
      • Personal profile page reflects that they performed review
      • Authors given option to reproduce peer review history
    • Articles are open for comment
      • Voting on questions/answers based on StackOverflow model

    Post-publication

    • PeerJ is widely indexed
    • Currently awaiting impact factor (must be 2 yrs old)
    • PeerJ articles are published in HTML, JSON, XML, PDF
    • PeerJ PrePrint are basic PDF; not professionally typeset

    Peerj after one year


    According to co-founder Peter Binfield,
    • 91% of authors had an "above average" publishing experience
    • 42% rated it "one of the best I have ever had"
    Source: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/peerjs-99-open-access-model-one-year-on/2011960.article

    Current Stats:
    • 32 institutions with researcher plans
    • 834 academic editors
    • 2,198 peer-reviewed & preprint authors

    Positive Aspects


    Negative Aspects

    • Stable business model (?)
    • Potential drawbacks of charging for authorship rights

    Knowledge Unlatched

    unglue.it

    • Crowdfunding to make  CC ebooks
    • Three types of campaign
      • Pledge - Pledge support, unglued when goal is met
      • Buy - Author sells copies until goal is met
      • Thanks - Author produces OA copy, readers donate
    • Launched in May, 2012
    • Seven titles have been 'Unglued'
    Made with Slides.com