Before sharing in this issue, in view of the recent confusion of many authors, the editor would like to share the meaning, difference, and how to choose between open source journals and closed source journals?
Conceptual difference
"Open source journals" mean open access. OA (Open access), for short, refers to placing academic information on the Internet for everyone to share without considering copyright or registration restrictions. That is, authors need to pay to publish articles, and readers can directly obtain the full text without paying.
"Closed source journals" are not open access. The abbreviation of Non-OA (Non open access) means that authors publish articles without paying page fees , and readers obtain resource information by purchasing publications or paying subscription fees.
Open source analytics
Advantages of open source (OA) journals: fast recruitment. Since the review process of open source journals is more flexible, the cycle is short, the acceptance rate is high, and the impact factor is generally high. Readers of open source journals do not need to pay to read articles, and publishers can be self-sufficient without relying on external financial support, which facilitates the dissemination of articles, so it is usually possible Increase downloads and citations of your articles.
Disadvantages of open source journals: high page fees. Due to the high popularity and high impact factors of open source journals, the page fees of open source journals usually rise.
Non-open source analysis
Advantages of non-open source (non-OA) journals: high-quality articles. The evaluation standards of journals and articles are high. Since closed-source journals need to pay to obtain authors for articles, they require high-quality articles. In a virtuous circle, the evaluation of journals will also be high. Another big advantage is that there is no page fee.
Disadvantages of closed source journals: the review cycle is longer, the acceptance rate is lower, and the visibility is lower. The number of full-text downloads and reader visits is far less than that of OA journals. Non-OA journals have to pay page fees for every reading and citation.
Risk analysis of being kicked out
Is the risk of being kicked out of an open source journal necessarily greater than that of a closed source journal?
Whether a journal is at risk of deletion has nothing to do with open source or closed source . Open source journals are not necessarily water journals. Nature Communications and Science Advances are all OA journals, but their impact factors and reputations are very high. If a closed source journal has a high self-citation rate , a surge in the number of published articles, and a decline in quality, there is also the risk of being removed from the database.
How to judge
1. The easiest way is to check whether the full-text PDF of the published papers on the official website can be downloaded directly. If so, it can be downloaded directly;
2. For further confirmation, you can choose to log in to the official website of the journal. Whether it is an open source journal will be stated on it. Log in to the WOS platform, or display "YES" in the "Is OA open access" column, which means "Open access". "NO" means "Open access". (However, there are also some open source journals, and Clarivate’s official website does not show OA)
3. There is also a journal publishing form called the hybrid model. You can choose to publish in open source or closed source according to your own situation.
how to choose
If you are anxious to publish, the page fee can be reimbursed, and you want your article to be widely disseminated, cited frequently, and have clear goals such as "retaining research, graduating, and quickly gaining professional titles," etc., then OA is a better choice . If you have plenty of time and care about the evaluation of journals and articles by insiders, then closed-source journals should be your first choice.
Warm reminder: No matter which one you choose, be sure to pay attention to the requirements of your school or unit and just meet the requirements.
Closed source journal recommendations
Closed source journal CCF-C category
Impact factor : 6.0-7.0
Journal area : JCR Area 2, Chinese Academy of Sciences Area 3
Search database : SCIE&EI double inspection
Early warning situation : No early warning record from the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Self withdrawal rate: 8.30%
Proportion of Chinese: 38.464%
Number of articles published annually: about 1,000-1,500
Receiving fields : related research on probability models, probability density functions, fuzzy logic, computer vision, robotics, fuzzy controllers, genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization, practical applications, including expert systems and decision support systems, etc.
Review cycle : According to the sampling statistics of the review speed of Original Articles recently published on the official website, the review cycle of most articles is about 2-3 months, and some are slower than half a year.
The following are examples of Original Articles recently published on the official website:
They are all accepted in about 2-3 months and published in about 1 month.
2 months and 6 days for recruitment, published 13 days after recruitment
3 months and 16 days for recruitment, publication will be published 24 days after recruitment
Accepted within 2 months and 15 days, published 23 days after acceptance
Closed source journal area 2
①Impact factor : IF (2022) 3.0-4.0
②Journal area : JCR Area 2, Chinese Academy of Sciences Area 3
③ Search database : SCIE search
④Layout category : Genuine publication
⑤Receiving fields : Biological, environmental, medical-related or combined research is acceptable
Published cases: 1 month and 12 days for acceptance, published 7 days after acceptance
Source of acceptance screenshot: Journal Submission System
Open source journal recommendations
Open Source Journal Area 2
Impact factor : 4.0-5.0
Journal area : JCR Area 2, Chinese Academy of Sciences Area 3
Search database : SCIE Inspection
Early warning situation : No early warning record from the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Self withdrawal rate: 7.50%
Proportion of Chinese people: 50.000% (Chinese people are friendly)
Number of articles published per year: about 100
Receiving area : Research on intelligent methods of edge/cloud to improve security and privacy, such as digital twins, etc.
Review cycle : According to the sampling statistics of the review speed of recently published Articles on the official website, the review cycle of most articles is about 3-4 months , with the fastest one being 16 days, and the slow one being more than half a year. .
The following are examples of Original Articles recently published on the official website:
Accepted within 16 days, published 30 days after acceptance
Accepted in 3 months and 11 days, published 8 days after acceptance
3 months and 14 days for recruitment, publication will be published 14 days after recruitment