Journal publishing models in the Czech Republic

Abstract

In 2014 we undertook a survey on the shifts in scholarly publishing in connection with the introduction of open access journals. The editors of more than half of the journals published in the Czech Republic participated in the first part of the study. An extensive questionnaire survey that addressed about 600 editorial boards of specialized journals was performed. We found the majority of journals to be published by smaller and non-traditional publishers. One of the most remarkable results was the finding that if we focus on economic models and peer-review models, open access journals do not differ considerably from other journals. Rather than according to the mode of access, much more significant differences may be observed between different types of publishers and between individual fields. It seems that on a local level the expectations associated with open access have not been fulfilled and the difference between subscriptionbased journals and open access journals is not so sharp.