Open Access Approach

The open access approach is not without its weaknesses. Among the main concerns commonly raised are the following:

• Lack of quality control. Some critics question whether open access journals provide the peer vetting necessary to ensure the information is credible, valid, and reported in a high-quality manner.

• Possible financial barriers to contributors. Because open access journals charge contributors a processing fee to publish, there is concern that this cost could deter some researchers. (However, defenders of open access point out that employers or funders often pay the fee, and journals may even waive fees.)

• Lack of the standards, policies, and track record necessary to build a reputable presence. Open access journals are not yet

3.2.6 Categorization of Open Access Journals

Open access journals are scholarly journals that are available online to the reader "without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself"(Suber, 2013). Some are subsidized and some require payment by the authors or by someone on behalf of the authors. The payment is made toward processing of the articles. Sometimes these payments are made by institutions on behalf of the authors.

Open access journals may be entirely OA or partially OA such as hybrid open access journals and delayed open access journals. Open access journals are deemed as equivalent to Gold Road and Self-Archiving is considered equivalent to Green Road. Wikipedia categories OA journals as:

 Journals entirely open access

 Journals with research articles open access (hybrid open access journals)

 Journals with some research articles open access (hybrid open access journals)

 Journals with some articles open access and the other delayed

The money might come from the author but more often comes from the author's research grant or employer. Many of these open access journals referred as 'gold' OA, waive the publication or part of the fee. This is generally true for authors from less developed countries.

3.2.6.2 No-fee based

No-fee open access journals use a variety of business models. As summarized by Peter Suber: "Some no-fee OA journals have direct or indirect subsidies from institutions like universities, laboratories, research centers, libraries, hospitals, museums, learned societies, foundations, or government agencies. Some have revenue from a separate line of non-OA publications. Some have revenue from advertising, auxiliary services, membership dues, endowments, reprints, or a print or premium edition. Some rely, more than other journals, on volunteerism. Some undoubtedly use a combination of these means" (Suber, 2012).

3.2.6.3 Popular

Pioneers in open access article publishing are in the biomedical domain with journals like the BMJ (British Medical Journal), Journal of Medical Internet Research and Medscape, that made content freely accessible in the late 90s. BioMed Central published its first article in the year 2000. The Public Library of Science launched its first open access journal, PLOS Biology in 2003, with PLOS Medicine following in 2004, and PLOS ONE in