Diagnostic Pathology (Dec 2017)
Predatory Journals, Science Citation Index and Open Access Publications in Diagnostic Pathology
Abstract
Background: Predatory behavior in open access peer reviewed scientific journals seems to be increasing. It is subject to serious discussions between editors, authors, and publishers. Herein we discuss some characteristics of electronic communication in science, the reasons for potential misuse, and present some entropy calculations. Theoretical considerations: Publication of research articles uses visual information transfer, and seldom acoustic communication. Advantages of open access electronic journals include prompt and worldwide distribution, free access, and several free re-use rights. Disadvantages might be seen in non congruent business models of authors and publishers, which include impact of financial issues on scientific quality and easy to perform, hard to detect manipulation of published data and their sources. Present stage: Citation Index (SI) and Journal Impact Factor (JIP) are the principal sources which are thought to guarantee the article’s quality and author’s prestige. Authors try to publish in and publishers try to offer journals with high SI and JIP. Independent review processes should serve to maintain the article’s quality. Reviewers are invited electronically in both conventional paper printed and electronically distributed journals. They are requested to act at their earliest convenience. Reviews are as all fast electronic information distribution exposed to become manipulated, in politics, commerce, and science as well. Proposal and perspectives: Electronic information exchange uses properties of virtual reality, which include the reversibility of time. They are scalable events and can be measured by an appropriate entropy concept. Authors can be considered information source that should be understood by the readers (receiver). The higher the information content the more precise is the reaction of the receiver. The readers’ reaction can be measured and be used to classify, modify, correct, or even erase the distributed information. The development of appropriate readers’ tools would improve the quality and originality of the article and journal. Conclusion: A readers’ oriented model would be an appropriate extension of quality assurance for open access journals and articles. Such a model could be based upon the entropy concept and be a reliable measure of research quality and impact on its future development.
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