Satirical memes filled the social media of scientists around the world when, in January of this year, the specialist journal Nature Neuroscience decided to issue an editorial highlighting its recent policy for publishing articles that are open access — that is, articles that can be read by anyone who wants to. have an internet connection, no subscription required.
“This transition reflects our commitment to open science and strong demand from the scientific community,” the journal stated. The price of change: US$ 11,390 (or more than R$ 60,000) per article, an amount paid by the scientists who want to publish the research.
Despite the online fuss a few weeks ago, the policy has actually been implemented since the beginning of 2021 in the main journals of the Springer Nature group, one of the most important publishers of scientific journals at a global level (the most prestigious is the British Nature ).
Although Springer Nature argues that the value is justified by the services offered by the publications to scientists and the high competition for space on their pages, researchers say that the rate is unrealistic for developing countries such as Brazil. Furthermore, it would create barriers to the free dissemination of research results precisely when this would be one of the objectives of the open access model.
Discounts that take into account the reality of the scientists’ countries of origin? For now, this is out of the box for pretty much everyone. “They use a World Bank socioeconomic classification that only grants free access to South Sudan and Afghanistan. If the researcher is from Haiti, he is already considered to be from a lower-middle-income country and, therefore, he would have to pay”, says Alicia Kowaltowski, professor at the Department of Biochemistry at USP.
The amount charged per article by the main periodicals of the group is higher than the last annual funding granted to researchers by the CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), the main national body for promoting science in Brazil. “I wrote a very impudent letter to one of the magazines. It’s the kind of thing no one believes in”, says geneticist Mayana Zatz, from the Institute of Biosciences at USP.
Part of the displeasure, for scientists, comes from the fact that the high prices are charged even though a crucial part of the work that precedes publication is done on a voluntary basis. This is called “peer review” or peer review, which happens when an article, before being published, passes through the hands of other scientists in the same area (generally anonymous). They are responsible for evaluating whether, in general terms, the work was done correctly and deserves to be accepted for publication. Peer reviewers are not paid for this.
Kowaltowski recalls that the functioning of this process ends up tipping the balance in favor of journals and against researchers with fewer resources to pay for open access. “You can’t submit your publication to several magazines and see which one has the best price, for example,” she says.
The practice is that only one journal is chosen at the beginning, and that a new submission only comes months later if the article is rejected. The option given by the Springer Nature group to those who cannot pay is to leave the article with access only to magazine subscribers.
For Zatz, as the values are not so high for well-funded research groups in the US and Europe, the tendency is for them to pay to be able to continue publishing in scientific journals with more impact, that is, more read and cited by scientists. “It’s a vicious circle, and they [o grupo editorial] know that, unfortunately.”
In response to questions sent by the leaf, the Springer Nature group reaffirmed, in a note, that the services it offers justify the fees charged.
“More than 280 highly qualified specialists work on the creation of Nature and the other journals of the group every day”, says the note sent by the press office. The text states that, in addition to coordinating the entire process of peer review and publication, the team invests in the indexing and sharing of articles, to ensure that they reach maximum visibility on global research platforms.
The note also highlights that a large part of the work has to do with the intense prior selection of content, since only 8% of the articles submitted to Nature and the main journals of the group are published.
“We also offer free access to a guide to funding publications” to help researchers find ways to pay for the open access system, they say.
Source: Folha
