Open access versus subscription journals: a comparison of scientific impact

Background In the past few years there has been an ongoing debate as to whether the proliferation of Open Access (OA) publishing would damage the peer review system and put the quality of scientific journal publishing at risk. Our aim was to inform this debate by comparing the scientific impact and quality of Open Access with subscription journals controlling for journal age, the country of the publisher, discipline and for OA publishers their business model. Methods Two-year impact factors (the average number of citations to the articles in a journal) were used as a proxy for scientific impact. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) was used to identify OA journals as well as their business model. Journal age and discipline were obtained from the Ulrich’s periodicals directory. Comparisons were done on the journal level as well as on the article level where the results were weighted by the number of articles published in a journal. Six hundred and ten OA journals were compared with 7,609 subscription journals using Web of Science citation data while an overlapping set of 1,327 OA journals were compared with 11,124 subscription journals using Scopus data. Results Overall average citation rates, both unweighted and weighted for the number of articles per journal, were about 30% higher for subscription journals. However after controlling for discipline (medicine and health versus other), age of the journal (three time periods) and the location of the publisher (four largest publishing countries versus other countries) the differences largely disappeared in most subcategories except for journals which had been launched prior to 1996. OA journals that fund publishing with article processing charges (APCs) are on average more cited than other OA journals. In Medicine and health OA journals founded in the last ten years are receiving about as many citations as subscription journals launched during the same period. Conclusions Our results indicate that OA journals indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus are approaching the same scientific impact and quality as subscription journals particularly in biomedicine and for journals funded by article processing charges

The publishing delay in scholarly peer-reviewed journals

Publishing in scholarly peer reviewed journals usually entails long delays from submission to publication. In part this is due to the length of the peer review process and in part because of the dominating tradition of publication in issues, earlier a necessity of paper-based publishing, which creates backlogs of manuscripts waiting in line. The delays slow the dissemination of scholarship and can provide a significant burden on the academic careers of authors. Using a stratified random sample we studied average publishing delays in 2700 papers published in 135 journals sampled from the Scopus citation index. The shortest overall delays occur in science technology and medical (STM) fields and the longest in social science, arts/humanities and business/economics. Business/economics with a delay of 18 months took twice as long as chemistry with a 9 month average delay. Analysis of the variance indicated that by far the largest amount of variance in the time between submission and acceptance was among articles within a journal as compared with journals, disciplines or the size of the journal. For the time between acceptance and publication most of the variation in delay can be accounted for by differences between specific journals

A study of Open Access Journals using article processing charges

Article Processing Charges (APC) are a central mechanism for funding Open Access (OA) scholarly publishing. We studied the APCs charged and article volumes of journals that were listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals as charging APCs. These included 1,405 journals that published an estimated 103,000 articles in 2010. The average charge was 582 USD (calculated over journals) and 887 US Dollars (USD) (calculated over articles). The price range varied between 20 and 3,800 USD, with the lowest prices charged by journals published in developing countries and the highest by journals with high impact factors from major international publishers. Journals in Biomedicine represent 59% of the sample and 58% of the total article volume. They also had the highest APCs of any discipline. Commercial journals had substantially higher APCs than society journals with an average APC of $1,119. These price estimates are lower than previous studies of OA publishing and much lower than is generally charged by subscription publishers making individual articles open access in what are termed hybrid journals

Pricing Principles used by Scholarly Open Access Publishers

The article processing charge (APC) is currently the primary method of funding Open Access peer reviewed journals. The pricing principles of 77 OA publishers publishing over 1000 journals using APCs were studied and classified. The most common method is the fixed single fee, which can either be the same for all of a publisher’s journals or individually determined for each journal. Fees are usually only levied for publication of accepted papers, but there are some journals that also charge for submission. Instead of fixed prices many publishers charge by the page or have multi-tiered fees depending on the length of articles. The country of origin of the author can also influence the pricing, in order to facilitate publishing for authors from developing countries.peerReviewe

How research funders can finance APCs in full OA and hybrid journals

Open access (OA) publishing is steadily growing in both full OA journals and hybrid journals where authors can pay to individually open up their articles. Funding for article processing charges (APCs) is still a strong barrier for many authors particularly for subscription journals where the hybrid option is expensive and an added extra feature after an article is accepted for publication. Many research funders in Europe have started or are considering mechanisms for paying APCs with earmarked funding in order to increase the uptake of OA. At the same time they are well aware that their actions may influence the way the OA market will develop in the near future. This article discusses a number of scenarios for ways in which funders could cover the cost of APCs, while encouraging the development of a competitive and transparent market for APC-funded OA scholarly publishing. We provide evidence that the current APC-funded full OA market is sensitive to journal prestige/impact. We present a value-based cap funding scheme which could help maintain transparency bringing hybrid market pricing in line with the full OA market. We also consider a scenario that addresses hybrid “double dipping” while limiting the cost of transitioning to full OA for research-intensive universities as well as cost-sharing as a mechanism for providing authors with an incentive for considering cost as well as value in choosing where to publish.nonPeerReviewe

Energetics of binary mixed culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas fluorescence growth on phenol in aerobic chemostat culture

Bioenergetic analysis of the growth of the binary mixed culture (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas fluorescence) on phenol chemostat culture was carried out. The data were checked for consistency using carbon and available electron balances. When more than the minimum number of variables are measured, and measurement errors are taken into account, the results of parameter estimation depend on which of the measured variables are chosen for this purpose. Similar parameter estimates were obtained using Pirt’s model based on the Monod equation approach and a modified model based on substrate consumption being rate limiting. Coupled with the covariate adjustmentestimation technique, the best estimates were the maximum likelihood estimates (MLE) based on when all the measured data were used. For the aerobic growth of the mixed culture on phenol, ηmax = 0.396 and me= −0.020 h-1. From the 95% confidence intervals, a maximum of about 38 – 41.3% of the energy contained in phenol is incorporated into the mixed culture biomass. The balance (58.7 – 62%) is evolved as heat with little or no energy needed for the maintenance of organisms.Keywords: Binary mixed culture, biomass energetic yield, chemostat culture, energetic analysis, maintenance coefficient, Pirt’s mode

Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates, a bacterial biodegradable polymers

There has been considerable interest in the development and production of biodegradable polymer to solve the current problem of pollution caused by the continuous use of synthetic polymer of petroleum origin. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are known to be accumulated as intracellular inclusion in some bacteria. The materials properties exhibited by PHAs, ranging from stiff, brittle to rubber-like makes it a close substitute for the synthetic plastic. The high cost of PHAs production has restricted its applications. The possibility of producing this polymer commercially and at comparable cost has been the main focus in this area. Key Words: Polyhydroxyalkanoates, biodegradable polymer, bioplastic, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), biosynthesis. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(1) 2004: 18-2

Substrate inhibition kinetics of phenol degradation by binary mixed culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas fluorescence from steady state and wash- out data

Steady states of a continuous culture with an inhibitory substrate were used to estimate kinetic parameters under substrate limitation (chemo stat operation). Mixed cultures of an indigenous Pseudomonas fluorescence and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were grown in continuous culture on phenol as the sole source of carbon and energy at dilution rates of 0.01 – 0.20 h-1. Using different dilution rates several steady states were investigated and the specific phenol consumption rates were calculated. In addition, phenol degradation was investigated by increasing the dilution rate above the critical dilution rate (washout cultivation). The results showed that the phenol degradation by mixed culture of P. fluorescence and P. aeruginosa can be described by simple substrate inhibition kinetics under substrate limitation but cannot be described by simple substrate inhibition kinetics under washoutcultivation. The phenol consumption rate (degradation rate) increased with increase in dilution rate. Fitting of the steady state data from continuous cultivation to six inhibition models resulted in the bestfit for Haldane, Yano and Koga, Aiba et al. and Teissier models, respectively. The rsmax value of 0.322 mg/mg/h obtained from these model equations was comparable to the experimentally calculated rsmax value of 0.342 mg/mg/h obtained under washout cultivation

BIOELECTRICITY PRODUCTION FROM CASSAVA MILL EFFLUENTS USING MICROBIAL FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY

A Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is a biochemical-catalyzed system that generates electricity by oxidation of biodegradable organic substance in the presence of microorganisms or enzymes. Microbial fuel cell technology is a new form of renewable and sustainable technology for electricity generation as it recovers energy from renewable materials such as organic wastes and wastewaters that can constitute environmental pollution if not disposed without proper treatment. This work therefore investigated the possibility of electricity generation from cassava mill effluent using MFC. The cassava mill effluent was found to generate voltage and current to the maximum of 275 mV and 2.75 mA, respectively, corresponding to a maximum power density of 189 mW/m2. The voltage and current generation was respectively and significantly influenced with change in temperature, pH, concentration (strength) of effluent and addition of nutrient. Thus, it can be concluded that bioelectricity can directly be generated from cassava mill effluent using the MFC technology. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v35i2.1

Kinetics of batch microbial degradation of phenols by indigenous binary mixed culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas fluorescence

The potential of various organisms to metabolize organic compounds has been observed to be a potentially effective means in disposing of hazardous and toxic wastes. Phenolic compounds have longbeen recognized as one of the most recalcitrant and persistent organic chemicals in the environment. The bioremediation potential of an indigenous binary mixed culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa andPseudomonas fluorescence was studied in batch culture using synthetic phenol in water in the concentration range of 100 –500 mg/L as a model limiting substrate. The effect of initial phenol concentration on the degradation process was investigated. Phenol was completely degraded at different cultivation times for the different initial phenol concentrations. Increasing the initial phenol concentration from 100 to 500 mg/L increased the lag phase from 0 to 18 h and correspondinglyprolonged the degradation process from 24 to 96 h. There was decrease in biodegradation rate as initial phenol concentration increased. Fitting data into three different kinetic models (Monod, Haldane, andYano and Koga) showed that the difference in fit between the models was very small and thus statistically insignificant. Thus, the Yano and Koga model has been used to interpret the free cell dataon phenol biodegradation. The kinetic parameters have been estimated up to initial phenol concentration of 500 mg/L. The rsmax decreased, while Ks and Ki increased with higher concentration of phenol. The rsmaxhas been found to be a strong function of initial phenol concentration