A primer on OA journals

Mark Funk, Open Access – A Primer, undated. (Thanks to the Krafty Librarian.)

Comment. This is OA-friendly and well-done. I hate to pick nits but there are a few small ways in which Mark could improve the document. A date would help, since the OA scene is always changing. The primer focuses on OA journals and neglects OA archives, but it admits this upfront. (For a two-sided introduction, see my OA Overview.) The only factual mistake is the claim that most OA journals use the "author pays" model. The Kaufman-Wills report of October 2005 showed that only 47% of OA journals charged author-side fees --fewer than half and even a smaller percentage than the subscription-based journals charging author-side fees. In any case, this model should not be called "author pays" since, as Mark acknowledges, authors rarely pay out of pocket.