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STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

FOR OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATIONS

Muhammad Shakeel,

Editorial Director

Science Publications Australia

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TYPES OF PUBLISHING CONCEPTS

SUBSCRIPTION-BASED

PUBLISHING

OPEN ACCESS

PUBLISHING

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- We have seen the introduction, success and demise of

many technologies and business strategies

- One main example being Kodak’s highly popular and

successful film cameras

- It failed after the introduction of digital cameras

- We have a similar situation with Subscription-Based

publishing

- Open Access is on the verge of replacing the

traditional publishing model

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INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT

Australia

Canada

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INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT

United States

United Kingdom

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INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT

European Funding Agencies

Universities

Libraries

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ADVANTAGES OF OPEN ACCESS

Free Access to Research Greater Visibility

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DISADVANTAGES OF OPEN ACCESS

Article Processing Charges Lack of Quality

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UNETHICAL OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHING

- Has become very easy for people with spare time and a

few computer skills to launch their own publication

- This is damaging the open access concept

- Two incidents presented today are:

- SciencePublication.org a publisher of two open access

journals

- Journal of Coastal Life Medicine

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- Uses our publisher’s name in its efforts to cash our

brand name

- Serious case of Identify Theft in both South Australia

and in the

United States

Original Publisher

Website

Domain:thescipub.co

m

Hoax Publisher

Website

Domain:sciencepublic

ation.org

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JOURNAL OF COASTAL LIFE MEDICINE

Uses Elsevier’s logo on its website without approval

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OPEN ACCESS STATISTICS

As of August 2014,

DOAJ reported the inclusion of

9,947 journals

As of February 2013

Electronic Journals

Library (EZB) reports

38,483 e-journals

ALARMING CONSIDERING THAT MOST PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT FOLLOWING ANY

GUIDELINES

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- Standardization is defined as the process of developing

and implementing technical standards.

- It is necessary to develop a model that can be used by

all open access publications

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

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PROPOSED METHOD

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IMPLEMENTATION OF PROPOSED

MODEL

IN SCIENCE PUBLICATIONS: A CASE

STUDY- We have implemented this model for one of our

journals

- This model is highly effective and very efficient

- Only concern is the availability of reviewers

- Some of them are busy with their academic duties

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CONCLUSION

- Open Access Publishing is a viable publishing concept

- Publications need to follow some guidelines (SOP) to

ensure the quality of the Open Access model

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The ACSE should establish committees to work on the following

suggestions:

1. Recommend a standard operating procedure for scholarly journals.

2. Offer courses to authors, reviewers and editors regarding different

aspects of the publication process.

3. Design and Offer extensive courses regarding the ethical issues that

can arise during the publishing process. If possible the committee should

collaborate with COPE to arrange seminars with experts in the field of

publication ethics.

4. If any member is found to be involved in unethical practice, some fines

should be applied or the party at fault should be enforced to attend some

specially designed course for the such incident. Penalty may be deposited

to the account of ACSE.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to acknowledge the support of the following organizations for their generous

assistance:

Science Publications Australia

The Asian Council of Science Editors (ACSE)