Would Publishing in Some of Today’s Freewheeling Open Access Journals Represent the Best Manuscript Placement Strategy for Food Safety Scientists Facing an OA Mandate?

Abstract

For eighty years, food safety scientists have analyzed and validated each other’s work on microbiological contamination, spoilage, and poisonings using subscription-based journals well known for their scientific integrity. Now, however, more and more funders encourage researchers to publish in open access (OA) journals and allow paying Article Processing Charges (APCs) from grants. This article determined the degree to which purely OA publishers have gained in market share of scholarly food safety papers since the 1999–2000 foundings of the highly reputable BMC (BioMed Central) and PLOS (Public Library of Science) families of journals and the rise of many other OA publishers in the interim, including some that are controversial. Even now only 10 percent of papers on the most important foodborne pathogens appear in OA sources. Food safety scientists who might eventually be required to publish on an OA basis would best reach their target audience and minimize reputational risk by exercising any available option to pay APCs for their manuscripts to appear on an OA basis in the otherwise subscription-based most-trusted journals of their profession.