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(Volume: 2, Issue: 4)
Publish article as Open Access or Subscription-based?
The most frequent doubt that a researcher comes across, when his/ her research article is ready for being submitted to a journal is “Which is best? To publish Open Access or to publish under subscription model?”. So, what is a subscription-based model? What is an Open Access (OA)? What are the similarities and differences between each of the publishing models? How to choose between the two?
Let’s have a glimpse at it…
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The subscription-based model
This publication model from a journal wants its reader, either as an individual or from an associated institution, to pay for the contents that he/she desires to read. The copyright of the published research article, which can prevent fraudulent usage, multiple submissions or plagiarism, will be transferred to the journal and not retained by the corresponding author in this model of publication.
The Open Access model
This publication model from a journal enables the reader to freely access the contents. In contrast, this model demands the author to pay a fee to the journal for processing his/ her article, prior to publication. Here, the author is free to own, transfer or share the copyright of his/ her research publication.
The similarity
Whether it is a subscription model or the OA model, each of them never gets compromised at the quality of article before article acceptance. They do so by following a strict peer review process with reputed, domain-specific reviewers, though there is a false thought that the journals ignore the quality to publish OA and for improving their Impact Factor (IF) rankings. Additionally, each of them disregards untruthful research outcomes, plagiarized contents and other unethical means of publishing.
The difference
Research quality is the ultimate aim of all journals. However, the difference between the subscription-based and the OA journals emanates with the following: (i) The amount to be paid by the readers in the subscription model, which the OA neglects and allow free access to the article immediately upon publication; (ii) The fee paid by the author as Article Processing Charge (APC) in OA, which is not essential in the subscription-based models; (iii) The visibility, the research impact and the reach of the article, which is high in case of OA than subscription-based models; (iv) The ownership of the copyright to the journal or to the author, as subscription-based models prefer copyrights to be owned only by them and not by the author and (V) The funding compliance in OA with which funded research becomes publicly visible with free access, immediately on publication.
How to choose?
An author at the stage of manuscript submission to any journal needs to consider certain queries in prior and they are: (i) Does my article meet the quality and scope of the journal, be it OA or subscription-based? (ii) Do I need my article to be visible to any reader or a specific research community? (iii) Is it possible for me to afford the APC being charged by the OA journal? (iv) Do I really need the copyright ownership and if yes, can I tackle the unethical issues arising unpredictably out of it? and (v) Does my funding agency insist OA or not? Getting ready with the answers for these queries, the author can choose the suitable publishing option for his/ her research article. In general, the author can go for a subscription-based publishing option, if he/ she denies to afford the APC and has no mind to bear the copyright offences. On the contrary, the author can opt for OA, if according to him/ her the reach and funding compliance weigh more than the APC.
Hence, The Research Seer’s rationale on “Publish article as Open Access or Subscription-based?” is:
“Pick publishing option, considering expense, exposure and funding preference”
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