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Publishing Resources: Types of Publishing Models

Avoid Predatory Publishers

Predatory Journals and publishers charge fees to authors to publish their articles without providing standard editorial and publishing services that are practiced by legitimate scholarly journals.

Go to Warning Signs of Predatory Journals to identify and avoid predatory journals.

Also, avoid Predatory Conferences that utilize the same practices as predatory publishers.

Subscription Journals

Subscription Journals:

Traditional publishing model that requires users to pay a fee to access journal content.​​ 

Pros:

  • Usually perform peer-review
  • Usually established, well-regarded journals follow this format

Cons:

  • Cost of subscriptions can be high
  • Can prohibit less affluent communities from accessing content
  • Can be a slow process to publish
  • Varies in quality

Open Access Journals

Open Access Journals:

Open Access publishing eliminates subscription fees to make content available to all. 

Pros:

  • No subscription fees to access articles
  • Can eliminate inequalities in access to knowledge
  • Can increase citation counts for authors
  • Can promote new ideas faster than traditionally-published articles

Cons:

  • May charge an Article Processing Charge (APC) since it does not receive subscription revenue.
  • Quality and peer-review process can vary
  • Predatory Journals mimic open access journals 

Hybrid Journals

Hybrid Journals:

Hybrid Journals follow a mixed publishing model, charging subscriptions to access most of the content but also making some articles freely accessible to users.

Pros:

  • Can provide access to some articles without subscription
  • Can make providing articles freely accessible a reality for various publishers

Cons:

  • Journal's commitment to open access varies
  • Might charge both a subscription fee to users and an article processing fee to authors