Financial barriers in urology publishing: an analysis of legitimate and predatory journals

IF 1.5 4区医学 Q3 SURGERY

ANZ Journal of Surgery Pub Date : 2025-02-22 DOI:10.1111/ans.70019

Lequang T. Vo MBBS, MSurg, David Armany MBBS, MSurg, Simon V. Bariol MBBS, BSc (Med), Sriskanthan Baskaranathan MBBS, Tania Hossack MBBS, MSurg, David Ende MBBS, Henry H. Woo MBBS, DMedSci

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives

To compare the Article Processing Charges (APCs) and fee transparency between legitimate and potentially predatory urology journals.

Methods

Potentially predatory journals were identified from unsolicited email solicitations sent to an academic urologist between December 2023 and January 2024. APC data were collected from the journals' websites and categorized based on fee transparency: no APC, non-transparent APCs, or transparent APCs. Legitimate journals were identified from the 69 urology journals listed in the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons library. APCs for these journals were similarly collected and analyzed. We conducted a quantitative analysis with Chi-squared testing to compare categorical variables and a Mann–Whitney U-test to assess differences in APC values.

Results

A total of 214 potentially predatory journals were identified from 422 emails, originating from 75 different publishers. Solicitations spanned various disciplines, with only 7.35% from urology journals. Among potentially predatory journals, 3.7% claimed to have no APCs, 21.5% lacked fee transparency, and 74.8% disclosed their APCs, with a mean charge of 2272.50 USD (median 2000 USD; range 150–3690 USD). In contrast, legitimate journals had a mean APC of $3244.51 USD (median 3490 USD; range 635–6950 USD), with 11.6% offering publication without APCs.

Conclusion

Academic urologists often face unsolicited invitations from predatory journals and encounter high APCs from legitimate journals. This dual challenge complicates researchers' decisions and can hinder access to reputable publication avenues. To alleviate this burden, institutions should consider financial support for researchers, and both publishers and researchers must prioritize transparency and caution in the open-access publishing landscape.

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泌尿外科出版的财务障碍：合法和掠夺性期刊的分析。

目的：比较合法和潜在掠夺性泌尿外科期刊的论文处理费（APCs）和费用透明度。方法：从2023年12月至2024年1月期间发送给泌尿科学术医师的主动电子邮件中识别出潜在的掠夺性期刊。APC数据从期刊网站上收集，并根据收费透明度进行分类：无APC、不透明APC和透明APC。合法期刊从皇家澳大拉西亚外科学院图书馆列出的69种泌尿学期刊中确定。这些期刊的apc也同样被收集和分析。我们采用卡方检验比较分类变量，采用Mann-Whitney u检验评估APC值的差异。结果：从来自75个不同出版商的422封电子邮件中，共鉴定出214种潜在的掠夺性期刊。邀请来自各个学科，只有7.35%来自泌尿科期刊。在潜在的掠夺性期刊中，3.7%声称没有apc， 21.5%缺乏费用透明度，74.8%披露了他们的apc，平均收费为2272.50美元(中位数为2000美元；范围150-3690美元)。相比之下，正版期刊的平均APC为3244.51美元(中位数为3490美元；价格在635-6950美元之间)，11.6%的出版物不含apc。结论：学术泌尿科医师经常面临来自掠夺性期刊的不请自来的邀请，并遇到来自合法期刊的高apc。这一双重挑战使研究人员的决定复杂化，并可能阻碍获得有信誉的出版途径。为了减轻这种负担，机构应该考虑为研究人员提供财政支持，出版商和研究人员都必须在开放获取出版领域优先考虑透明度和谨慎性。

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来源期刊

ANZ Journal of Surgery 医学-外科

CiteScore

2.50

自引率

11.80%

发文量

720

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： ANZ Journal of Surgery is published by Wiley on behalf of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to provide a medium for the publication of peer-reviewed original contributions related to clinical practice and/or research in all fields of surgery and related disciplines. It also provides a programme of continuing education for surgeons. All articles are peer-reviewed by at least two researchers expert in the field of the submitted paper.