Apr 19, 2007
Open Access Abbreviated, Combined
Just when you thought that the publishers had ran out of combinations of shortened discipline names - PhysChemOrgPhys, ChemCommPhysChem, CommPhysOrgGeoAstroChem (You know who you are!), BioMedCentral(!) is yet to launch another - PhysMath Central. PMC, an open access publishing platform, goes live today with a call for papers for its first journal is officially accepting papers for publication in its first journal, PMC Physics A, B, and C.
My former colleague on ChemWeb(!) Chris Leonard who is now heading up PMC tells me about why this endeavour is so important to the scientific community and publishing in general. “Global access to peer-reviewed research is as essential in the physical sciences as it is in the life sciences,” he says, “The same benefits apply, namely; increased readership, increased citations, decreased access barriers and the retention of copyright by the author.” Leonard is on record as saying that his move from the world of traditional publishing to the OA end of the spectrum represented an epiphany. “I started off at ChemWeb.com and subsequently moved to Amsterdam to work for Elsevier,” he explains, “I have now seen the light and am very happy to be developing physics and mathematics journals for the Open Access publisher BioMed Central.”
BMC explains the rationale behind the launch as being aimed at meeting the increasing demand for open access journals from major research institutes (such as CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research) and other funding organizations and government bodies. PhysMath Central could make research in physics, mathematics and computer science more widely available and increase access to this research to all institutes and individuals, without the burden of subscription charges. “The demand for open access is growing constantly as all scientists from all disciplines become aware of the benefits of open access publishing,” adds Leonard. Success will hinge, as with any new journal launch, on whether or not the putative authors feel the return on investment of submitting to the new journal will pay off in terms of readership and impact factor.
If the existence of yet more journals in the literature is not enough, PMC is also launching a blog, be sure to add it to your blogroll to keep up with developments and impact factor evolution. Oh, and one more thing, for their British authors: they deliberately missed off the “s” from “maths”.
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Andrew Sun said,
April 20, 2007 at 5:32 am
Prefixes as well: Nanotechnol. Nanosci., Biosci, Nanobiol
Regions also: Chem Eur J, Chem Asian J, Can J Chem, Indian J Chem
David Bradley said,
April 20, 2007 at 7:22 am
It’s funny you should mention those prefixes Andrew. It seems that that advent of chemistry journals with mixed up names of this nature NanoPhysMolChem etc etc is concurrent with the demise of so many old-style Chemistry Departments and their replacement with the self styled departments of Nanophysics and Molecular Chemistry etc etc
Chris Leonard said,
April 20, 2007 at 9:28 am
Thanks for the write up David. Personally I feel that acronyms have an even more prominent role in publishing nowadays. I have recently had to add a FAQ on APCs for PMC to the site ASAP!
David Bradley said,
April 20, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Good idea Chris, TTFN + HAGWE LOL ROFL
Andrew Sun said,
April 21, 2007 at 10:53 am
But I still believe fewer words sound heavier. Only one ‘Department of Chemistry’ can round up all the things, and also imply a long history of the institute. For journals, Carbon, Polymer, Macromolecules, Langmuir etc. all *sound* tremendous
David Bradley said,
April 21, 2007 at 11:26 am
I think you’re right Andrew. “Department of Chemistry” is a much more solid concept than a phrase like the “Nouveaus Institutes of PhysMolChemSci and Nanospurosity” or whatever. There was an opinion piece in New Scientist around the time the UK polytechnics all got upgraded to University status and started eying up crests and Latin mottos and stuff. At the same time, the old established Unis tried to rebrand with sleek, modern logos and mission statements. It was like “Uni 2.0″ in a similar vein to all the old websites that have tried to rebrand themselves as “Web 2.0″ (Did you spot the big orange RSS box, by the way?)