Dear colleagues,
I really don't have the time for this, but I think I ought to warn you against a new form of publication that I was not aware of, but encountered yesterday.
I received an invitation from an international publication company to join the Editorial Board of a new open-access journal intended for publication of design research. At first I was a bit flattered, as one tends to be on such occasions, as an ambitious academic. But on a closer reading of the invitation (and some of the background provided via links) it dawned upon me that there was nothing to be flattered about at all.
This will become clear from my response to the invitation. I enclose that response verbatim below. I do not include any names, however, nor the original invitation and other specifics that may disclose the identity of the journal or its publishers. This is solely because I do not want to embarrass any colleagues who might already have acccepted a similar invitation.
All the best,
:^) Per
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Dear Mr./Mrs. [name deleted],
Thank you for your invitation to join the Editorial Board of your new open-access journal, "[name deleted]".
I am very much in favour of open-access publication per se, but there already exist several excellent open-access journals in the field of design research. (For example, International journal of design, Artifact, FORMakademisk). These journals are hosted by academic institutions, based on public funding, and run on a non-profit basis. Authors publishing in the journals do not incur any publication charges.
Open-access journals of that kind contribute to resolving a long-standing ethical problem that used to be, and still is, attached to many conventional subscription-based journals: Namely, that academics are persuaded to work *for free* as editors, reviewers and authors, for the sake of their field of research, their careers, and their research community. But in so doing they are (as far as I am informed) creating quite substantial profits for the commercial companies that publish the conventional journals, via the subscription rates imposed on libraries and other subscribers. However, your new journal – despite its open-access format – seems to me to perpetuate this ethical problem of the conventional journals, rather than contributing to its resolution.
As for your specific offer to me as a potential editorial board member, it involves a considerable amount of time-consuming work each year: In my experience, to "assume full responsibility of" editing "5-10 manuscripts per year", as you write, would take a matter of *weeks* if done properly – what with communication with reviewers and authors, reading of manuscripts and reviewer reports, evaluation of revised manuscripts, and the final decision-making. What your company offers by way of compensation in return for such an amount of work, appears to be the option to submit manuscripts of my own, subject to a 50% discount on the publication charges!
I am surprised to learn from your letter that your company has managed to "publish more than 500 journals in a variety of disciplines" on such terms.
But to sum up, I find your proposal not only unethical in terms of the underlying business model, but also, at the personal level, exceedingly unattractive. For these reasons I choose to decline your offer.
Yours sincerely,
Per Galle
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PS: The publication charge per manuscript is 500 dollars.
Per Galle
Lektor, FDRS
Associate Professor, FDRS
Designskolen
School of Design
Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademis Skoler
for Arkitektur, Design og Konservering
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts,
Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation
Philip de Langes Allé 10
DK-1435 København K
T +45 4170 1500
M +45 4170 1876
E [log in to unmask]
www.kadk.dk
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