Preserving credibility of open access journals

In their editorial “Public access is not equal access”, the authors explain how the open access model can compound inequities by charging unaffordable article processing fees. They also acknowledge the perverse incentives of a business model based on volume of articles published, which has led to the proliferation of open access journals, many of which are predatory, and risks diluting the scientific literature. However, the unintended consequence of open access policies is the erosion of trust in scientific publishing standards by institutions. This is the case for Chinese institutions whose lack of confidence in the quality of open access articles risk to weaken the viability of legitimate open access journals and in turn hinder scientific research.