Advantages or disadvantages of submitting to the new APS open access PRResearch journal?

journals paper-submission physics open-access

1,259

This is impossible to say: As you note yourself, it is a new journal, and no-one knows where it will end up ranking.

On the other hand, my sentiment would be that it goes in the PR[A-E] bin, rather the PRL/X one (in line with the quote you give). Now since there are five PR[A-E] jounrals, and only one PRR, I would assume that it has good chances to rank higher than PR[A-E]. However, it could also go the other way: Given that you can publish for free in PR[A-E], while PRR is rather expensive, it could be that they only get a very limited number of submissions and cannot reach such a level. (The initial waiver for publication fees certainly suggests that they want to avoid such an effect until the journal has established itself at a corresponding level.)

1,259

Author by

sintetico

Updated on July 26, 2022

Comments

sintetico 10 months

In the decision about where to submit a physics manuscript, which are the advantages or disadvantages of the new open access PRResearch as a better choice over PRA/B/C/D/E?

PRResearch is rather new and does not have an impact factor yet. Do you expect the impact factor would be comparable to the other PRA/B/C/D/E journals, or slightly higher/lower?

Apart from the impact factor, do you see any inherent advantage to publish in a full open access journal? Notice that also the other PR* journals have open access options.

Also, the fact that the journal is multidisciplinary (as PRL and PRX) can be an advantage or disadvantage? Are there any other aspects to consider?

From the APS website https://journals.aps.org/prresearch/welcome:

The acceptance criteria for PRResearch are aligned with those of other long-established journals in the family, such as Physical Review A, B, C, D, and E.
- sintetico over 2 years
  
  I really do not understand why the question was closed. I am not asking for a personal advice, but about advantages/disadvantages of submitting to a specific journal. There are also similar questions about other journals.
- user151413 over 2 years
  
  Certainly, it does not seem too different from e.g. academia.stackexchange.com/questions/76420/…
- sintetico over 2 years
  
  @user151413 Yes, exactly!
- Rococo over 2 years
  
  I suppose one question to ask yourself is whether your paper fits well within one of the subcategories delineated by the A-E journals. If it does, that might be the best way to reach your audience. But if it is interdisciplinary or doesn't have an obvious home in one of them, PRR might get you seen by more relevant people.
- Anyon over 2 years
  
  Prior to the journal opened up for submissions, I asked a few editors of other APS journals about the need for full access when e.g. PRA/PRB have open access options. Apparently there are some funding options (e.g. institutional funding for publication charges) that apply only to full open access journals, not hybrid options. So part of APS' goals with PRResearch was to provide an option for authors under such restrictions.
- user151413 over 2 years
  
  @Anyon Good point, proabably some funding bodies only pay for open access fees when they are mandatory.
- Wrzlprmft over 2 years
  
  @sintetico: I am […] asking for […] advantages/disadvantages of submitting to a specific journal. – which is pretty much the definition of a shopping question. (If this was not among the guidance you were shown, please tell me as this sounds like a bug that should be fixed.) A question that you can ask here is what the potential motivations for this new journal could be (in particular since PRA–PRE already have open-access options). If you wish to do so, please ask it as a fresh question (since the current answer doesn’t match it).
- user151413 over 2 years
  
  @Wrzlprmft That would indeed be a good question! (And there already some good comments in that regard.)
- Wrzlprmft over 2 years
  
  You might also ask very general questions about publishing in a pay-to-publish journal vs. a pay-to-view one or one with a broad vs. a narrow scope (in each cases assuming all other things being equal and not naming any particular journals).
- sintetico over 2 years
  
  @Wrzlprmft This is really a splitting hair argument, "advantages/disadvantages" vs "potential motivations", is it really a matter of rephrasing the question, nothing more, do you agree with this? Also, as I and other members mentions, there are already questions which are very similar to my question and which are not closed...
- Wrzlprmft over 2 years
  
  @sintetico: is it really a matter of rephrasing the question, nothing more, do you agree with this? No, but I see that my phrasing was not particularly clear. To clarify, I am talking about motivations for the APS to issue the journal, not for motivations for authors to choose it. — there are already questions which are very similar to my question – when in doubt, please always consider the current guidelines, not precedents. There are some old questions which should have been closed but weren’t. (I now closed the question in question.)
- sintetico over 2 years
  
  @Wrzlprmft Perhaps your rephrasing is still not clear...Why anyone on this website or in academia in general would care about the motivations for APS to issue the journal? Instead academics are concerned about the publishing process. In other words, the point of view of academia is to publish in a journal, not to issue a journal.
- sintetico over 2 years
  
  @Wrzlprmft I will be glad to rephrase this question, if I have a clear guidance. But I haven't got any meaningful guidance yet.
- sintetico over 2 years
  
  @Wrzlprmft Also, the question is closed because "off-topic", not because it is a shopping question. Clearly, it is not off-topic, nor a "shopping question".
- Wrzlprmft over 2 years
  
  @sintetico: I indeed suggested that you ask about the (potential) motivations of the APS, for example: “What motivations could the APS have to issue the journal PRResearch in light of its current portfolio?” Understanding the motivations is interesting to understand journal politics and can help to understand what the point of the new journal is and in particular why they expect people to choose the journal.
- Wrzlprmft over 2 years
  
  the question is closed because "off-topic", not because it is a shopping question. – Can you please show me a screenshot of what exactly you are seeing (it’s different for you than for me), so we might improve this?
user151413 over 2 years

@Anyon My point is rather that people w/out open access funding will not be able to submit to PRR, which will have some effect on the quality (or, at least, it will form a filter layer).
sintetico over 2 years

If they get a very limited number of submissions, would this automatically boost the impact factor? One can argue that researchers with more funding are also producing better papers in average, thus the expensive fee will act as a filter, by allowing few publications, with an average better impact/citations?
user151413 over 2 years

@sintetico You can apply different types of logic here. Either less submissions -> less good submissions -> less good publications, but there are probably also some arguments supporting your reasoning. (Though, well, again: What matters is the best papers submitted there, until the cutoff where they accept it, not the average quality.)