European Science Editing 51: e160424, doi: 10.3897/ese.2025.e160424
Alternative explanations for a publication paradox with gold open access
Bor Luen Tang‡‡ National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Corresponding author: Bor Luen Tang ( bchtbl@nus.edu.sg ) Academic editor: Yasin Hasan Balcıoğlu © Bor Luen Tang. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Tang BL (2025) Alternative explanations for a publication paradox with gold open access. European Science Editing 51: e160424. https://doi.org/10.3897/ese.2025.e160424 |  |
Abstract
A paradox was observed with regard to an increase in gold open access publications despite the increase in financial constraints. While this was viewed positively by some as an indication of strategic adaptation and financial sacrifice to publish in open access journals with an impact factor instead of conference proceedings, there could be alternative explanations for the paradox. I propose views that reflect more negative issues with citations, peer review, and an arguably suboptimal mutually propagating publishing loop for gold open access publications.
Keywords
Article processing charges (APC), gold open access (OA), impact factor, publications, peer review, self-citation.