Here you can find answers to the most frequently asked questions in the field of open science. If you have other questions, contact us using the contact form.
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Frequently asked questions
Open science does not have a constant definition, it is a movement striving for an integrated change in established scientific procedures. It comprises a number of practices, which lead to sharing of all the steps of the scientific cycle free and with the general public. More information you can in section „What is Open science“.
- Availability of the scientific results, which are reusable.
- Transparency, which is in all the phases of the scientific process a huge benefit for scientific integrity.
- Reproducibility and thus more robust scientific results.
- Cooperation, which deepens manifold.
- Dissemination of results, which is more effective and quicker. It increases visibility for the scientists and institutions themselves.
(source: Eva Hnátková: Open Science - zbožné přání nebo reálná budoucnost vědy? , 2020)
Open Access represents a model of scientific communication, which provides permanent, immediate, independent and costless online access to full texts of published scientific results (most frequently articles) without restrictions for anybody (source). More information you can find in section „Open Access“.
Green Open Access consists in access to scientific texts by means of their storage in an open repository (digital archive). It is so-called autoarchiving - an author provides access to a publication in a repository. The author must keep an eye, whether the rights to the work (e.g. rights of the publisher) will not be broken by making the work accessible for the general public. More information you can find in section „Open Access“.
Gold Open Access is based on the fact that access to the publication is provided by the publisher. The author of the publication must select a journal, which is in accordance with the Open Access principles. These open journals are then online accessible to anybody, without necessity to pay subscription fees. Publication costs are transferred from readers to authors of publications. More information you can find in section „Open Access“.
For the present, there is no open science or open access policy at the CZU. In case you want to participate in its creation, we will be glad, if you contact us.
These are for example Bronze Open Access journals and Diamond/Platinum Open Access journals.
Bronze Open Access journals comprise open journals containing articles with different licence conditions. Therefore for example it may happen that it is not possible to reuse some articles published with Bronze Open Access.
Journals supporting Diamond/Platinum Open Access do not charge to authors any publishing fees. These journals are mostly financed by institutions, universities or for example by a grant.
More information you can find in section „Open Access“.
To the main advantages of open access the followings belong:
- better visibility of the publication and thus more readers
- easier transfer of the results into practice
- higher citation response
A journal, in which only selected articles, for which their authors must explicitly choose this way of publication, are published in open access. The remaining articles are locked, for their acquisition it is necessary to pay the subscription fee. To make the article open, the author must pay the open access fee. Thus, hybrid journals charge for their content to both readers and authors. Hybrid journals can be published in both print and online form.
For hybrid journals there is a double payment, so-called double dipping. In practice it means that the publisher makes the article accessible in open mode, but he requires a very high price for it (price for publishing in a hybrid journal with the possibility of the article opening is mostly higher than publishing of the article in a similar Open Access journal). Besides this the publisher wins an additional income for the classical subscription - so we pay to the publisher from public funds de facto two times. The open access movement strives for ending this ethically problematic practice and its substitution by fully-fledged open access.
Also the consortium COAliation S deals with the problem of hybrid journals and it does not recommend to use them. In a similar way also the European Commission (EC) sees it and it probably from the year 2021 will not support hybrid journals (p. 106). However, it is worth noting, that this topic is open again and discussed again - it is possible that the support of hybrid journals from the EC will not end after one year, but maybe after a longer time (information from October 2020). If you want to know more, read for example this article.
Predatory journals abuse the open access publication model and they parasitize on the open science idea. A typical predator is able to publish the article very quickly, however without ensuring a proper review process. The goal of predatory journals is not to publish high-quality science, but to get as many publication fees from authors as possible.
The quickest verification of the journal you can do by a simple googling. Look at the websites of the journal and focus on the following suspicious characters:
- they promise a quick review process,
- the publication fee from the author will be required after acceptance of the article for publishing,
- frequent and aggressive calls on authors to send an article to this selected journal (banners, eventually e-mail communication),
- a fictitious editorial board or abuse of academics (giving their names without their consent),
- imitation of designs, names etc. of successful journals,
- false data on impact factor and on inclusion in databases (you can verify here whether the journal is indexed in Scopus and indexation in Web of Sciencehere - it is necessary to have access to WoS),
- articles which were already published show a low quality.
If the journal provides on its web any from the aforesaid suspicious or false data, be careful.
You can also enter into Google the name of the journal and the word “predatory”. It is possible that you encounter for example an article or a discussion about the given journal.
There used to be the so-called Beall´s List, which included a list of predatory journals. But it ceased to be actual. Thus the verification, whether it is a predatory journal, is up to authors.
It is a fee to cover costs connected with publishing. The APC amounts differ from each other - they range from hundreds to thousands EUR/USD, depending on the field of science or the reputation of the publisher.
This information is in most cases specified on the websites of individual journals, publishers. But we recommend to verify in the database Directory of Open Access Journals, whether the given journal is in accordance with the Open Access principles.
It is possible to find open journals according to the field of science in the database Directory of Open Access Journals. Just click on the mark “Browse Subjects” and then enter the name of the field, in which you want to publish.
In most cases the licence conditions are specified on the websites of individual journals. You can verify them also in the database SHERPA/RoMEO. Just enter into the search field the name of the journal or its ISSN and the database will specify what licence conditions are connected with publishing in the given journal. This database contains policies of scientific publishers in relation to autoarchiving of publications (within the frame of Green Open Access). The database is only for reference. Always it is necessary to verify the licence conditions, which you will have specified in the contract.
You can select a suitable Open Access journal in the following ways:
- by searching in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ),
- by searching in Scopus here,
- by searching in Web Of Science here,
- by searching on the publishers' sites.
More information you can find in section „Tips for publishing“.
These are so-called public licences, which ease the use of authors’ works. As public licences they fill the space between legal and contractual licence conditions. These licences offer a simple and standardized way, how to allow others to use the works of others. More information you can find in section „Open Access“.
The survey of Creative Commons licences versions you can find in section „Open Access“.
Many Open Access publishers offer discounts on publication fees by specified conditions, which can take into account for example the economic maturity of the author’s country, or they are provided by various institutional arrangements. For example some publishers provide a discount to the members of the CzechElib consortium, to which also the CZU belongs. We recommend checking on the publisher’s websites, whether you are entitled to a discount on the APC or not.
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