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The Two-Way Street of Open Access Journal Publishing: Flip It and Reverse It

Author

Listed:
  • Lisa Matthias

    (John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany)

  • Najko Jahn

    (Göttingen State and University Library, University of Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany)

  • Mikael Laakso

    (Information Systems Science, Hanken School of Economics, 00100 Helsinki, Finland)

Abstract

As Open access (OA) is often perceived as the end goal of scholarly publishing, much research has focused on flipping subscription journals to an OA model. Focusing on what can happen after the presumed finish line, this study identifies journals that have converted from OA to a subscription model, and places these “reverse flips” within the greater context of scholarly publishing. In particular, we examine specific journal descriptors, such as access mode, publisher, subject area, society affiliation, article volume, and citation metrics, to deepen our understanding of reverse flips. Our results show that at least 152 actively publishing journals have reverse-flipped since 2005, suggesting that this phenomenon does not constitute merely a few marginal outliers, but instead a common pattern within scholarly publishing. Notably, we found that 62% of reverse flips (N = 95) had not been born-OA journals, but had been founded as subscription journals, and hence have experienced a three-stage transformation from closed to open to closed. We argue that reverse flips present a unique perspective on OA, and that further research would greatly benefit from enhanced data and tools for identifying such cases.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Matthias & Najko Jahn & Mikael Laakso, 2019. "The Two-Way Street of Open Access Journal Publishing: Flip It and Reverse It," Publications, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-29, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jpubli:v:7:y:2019:i:2:p:23-:d:219759
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nuria Bautista-Puig & Carmen Lopez-Illescas & Felix Moya-Anegon & Vicente Guerrero-Bote & Henk F. Moed, 2020. "Do journals flipping to gold open access show an OA citation or publication advantage?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(3), pages 2551-2575, September.
    2. Mikael Laakso & Anna-Maija, 2023. "European scholarly journals from small- and mid-size publishers: mapping journals and public funding mechanisms," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(3), pages 445-456.
    3. Wei Ming & Zhenyue Zhao, 2022. "Rethinking the open access citation advantage: Evidence from the “reverse‐flipping” journals," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(11), pages 1608-1620, November.
    4. Rosângela Schwarz Rodrigues & Ernest Abadal & Breno Kricheldorf Hermes de Araújo, 2020. "Open access publishers: The new players," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-13, June.
    5. Andre Bruns & Niels Taubert, 2021. "Investigating the Blind Spot of a Monitoring System for Article Processing Charges," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-9, September.
    6. Fakhri Momeni & Philipp Mayr & Nicholas Fraser & Isabella Peters, 2021. "What happens when a journal converts to open access? A bibliometric analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(12), pages 9811-9827, December.
    7. Michael Cary & Taylor Rockwell, 2020. "International Collaboration in Open Access Publications: How Income Shapes International Collaboration," Publications, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-24, February.
    8. Jonathan P. Tennant & Harry Crane & Tom Crick & Jacinto Davila & Asura Enkhbayar & Johanna Havemann & Bianca Kramer & Ryan Martin & Paola Masuzzo & Andy Nobes & Curt Rice & Bárbara Rivera-López & Tony, 2019. "Ten Hot Topics around Scholarly Publishing," Publications, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-24, May.
    9. Carmen López-Vergara & Pilar Flores Asenjo & Alfonso Rosa-García, 2020. "Incentives to Open Access: Perspectives of Health Science Researchers," Publications, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-17, May.

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