TCA Letters to the Editor
Press Release
Title: Predatory Open Access Scholarly Publishing
Date: June 2010
Organization: UNC at Chapel Hill School of Nursing
Letter:
Mr. Beall - I read with great interest your article in the Charleston Advisor under "Author Reviews" from April 2010. As an asst professor, of course I am always looking to publish, and had gotten some solicitations for papers that I thought were rather odd recently. I did a little background searching and found your very helpful paper on OA. Libertas Academia "offered" to publish a paper for me for $1600+ USD. In the high-stakes world of academic publishing, the vulnerability of researchers/authors further down the food chain is pretty high with the goal of promotion/tenure.
Your article should be required reading for journal clubs for new authors (and their mentors). I can't resist mentioning that your paper convinced me of the threats to science that these journals represent; your UNC degree gave you instant credibility!
Thank you for the big favor.
Best regards,
Beth Black
*****
Beth Perry Black, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
UNC at Chapel Hill School of Nursing
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
