Biology includes most everything that has “bio” as a leading part of its topic. This topic includes 336 journals, which published a total of 24,127 articles in 2013—and, excluding brand-new journals, 29,927 articles in 2014.
Grades
Grade | Journals | %J | Articles | %A | A/J |
A |
155 |
46% |
8,744 |
36% |
56 |
Free |
98 |
63% |
5,149 |
59% |
53 |
Pay |
57 |
37% |
3,595 |
41% |
63 |
A$ pay |
93 |
28% |
12,807 |
53% |
138 |
B |
18 |
5% |
1,401 |
6% |
78 |
Free |
5 |
28% |
377 |
27% |
75 |
Pay |
13 |
72% |
1,024 |
73% |
79 |
C |
24 |
7% |
825 |
3% |
34 |
Free |
1 |
4% |
32 |
4% |
32 |
Pay |
7 |
29% |
225 |
27% |
32 |
Unk |
16 |
67% |
568 |
69% |
36 |
D |
46 |
14% |
350 |
1% |
8 |
Free |
22 |
48% |
192 |
55% |
9 |
Pay |
22 |
48% |
151 |
43% |
7 |
Unk |
2 |
4% |
7 |
2% |
4 |
Table 5.1. Journals and articles by grade
Table 5.1 shows the number of journals and 2013 articles for each grade, the free, pay and unknown numbers, and average articles per journal. Boldface percentages (grades) are percentages of all biology journals, while others (free, pay, unknown) are percentages of that grade—so, for example, 7% of the journals are grade C and 4% of those 7% are (or is, since it’s only one journal) free.
Since A$ means an apparently-good journal with an APC of $1,000 or more, all A$ journals are in the Pay category; I’ve omitted a redundant line. Biology stands out for the very high percentage of articles—more than half—appearing in expensive journals, themselves a high percentage of all biology journals. Notably, those journals on average publish more than twice as many articles per journal as APC-charging apparently-good journals with lower fees (but not quite twice as many as those requiring investigation).
D journals—which, as usual, have far fewer articles per journal than any other group—break down as follows: C: 11 journals with 94 articles in 2013; D: six journals, 37 articles; E: 6 journals, 55 articles; H: seven journals, 93 articles; S: 16 journals, 71 articles.
Article Volume (including all of 2014)
2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
Journals |
301 |
314 |
299 |
268 |
%Free |
39% |
39% |
40% |
40% |
Articles |
29,352 |
23,552 |
22,374 |
19,993 |
%Free |
19% |
24% |
24% |
24% |
Table 5.2. Journals and articles by year
Table 5.2 shows the number of free and APC-charging journals that published articles (so far) in each year, including all of 2014, how many articles those journals published and what percentage were free. The 18 “unknown” journals (with 575 articles in 2013) are omitted. The journal numbers still don’t quite add up because some journals don’t publish articles in any given year (and it’s likely that a number of small journals haven’t yet posted 2014 articles).
The percentage of non-fee OA journals is distinctly lower than in most of OA, but has stayed fairly constant. The percentage of articles in non-fee journals is very low, much lower than typical, and dropped significantly in 2014.
Since there appear to be slight downturns in OA publishing in some topics (omitting brand-new journals), it’s worth noting the substantial increase in article count for biology journals, up by nearly a quarter (24.6%).
Looked at on a journal-by-journal basis, 150 journals published more articles in 2014 than in 2013; 16 published the same number; 170 published fewer. In terms of significant change, 127 journals (38%) published at least 10% more articles, 68 (20%) were relatively unchanged; and 141 (42%) published significantly fewer articles, including 17 small journals that have yet to publish any 2014 articles (those 17 published a total of 90 articles in 2013) and four, one of them with more than 100 articles in 2013, that seem to have disappeared or have defective sites.
Journals | No-Fee % | Articles | No-Fee % | |
Prolific |
2 |
0% |
2,195 |
0% |
Large |
28 |
21% |
9,837 |
16% |
Medium |
90 |
31% |
7,778 |
32% |
Small |
135 |
41% |
3,601 |
39% |
Sparse |
81 |
46% |
716 |
50% |
Table 5.3. Journals by peak article volume
Table 5.3 shows the number of journals in each size category (where “peak” does not include full-2014 numbers), 2013 articles in that group, and what percentage is or is in no-fee journals. Both of the prolific biology OA journals charge fees (one over $1,000, one under). There’s a clear and typical stepwise correlation between the size of the journal and the likelihood of it charging APCs—although even among the two least-prolific categories, a majority of journals charge fees.
Fees (APCs)
APC | Jour. | %Fee | %All | Art. | %Fee | %All |
High |
94 |
49% |
30% |
12,024 |
68% |
51% |
Medium |
35 |
18% |
11% |
2,597 |
15% |
11% |
Low |
44 |
23% |
14% |
1,865 |
10% |
8% |
Nominal |
19 |
10% |
6% |
1,316 |
7% |
6% |
None |
126 |
40% |
5,750 |
24% |
Table 5.4. Journals and articles by fee range
Table 5.4 shows the number of journals in each fee range (High: $1,451+; Medium: $601 to $1,450; Low: $201 to $600; Nominal: $8 to $200) and the number of 2013 articles for those journals. (Unknowns are omitted.) %Fee shows the percentage of all fee-charging journals or articles in those journals; %All shows the percentage of all journals or articles (excluding unknowns).
Since the fee ranges are based on quartiles of the full study universe, deviations from 25% in the first %Fee column represent differences between biology journals and OA as a whole—e.g., a much higher percentage of high-cost journals and much lower percentage of nominal-cost journals. Also noteworthy: more than two-thirds of articles in fee-charging journals (and a majority of all articles) appeared in the most expensive journals.
There’s no significant correlation (0.10) between APC charged and peak article volume.
Starting Dates and the Gold Rush
Year | Total | Free% |
Pre-1960 |
7 |
57% |
1960-69 |
2 |
0% |
1970-79 |
2 |
50% |
1980-89 |
9 |
56% |
1990-91 |
1 |
100% |
1992-93 |
0 |
0% |
1994-95 |
5 |
60% |
1996-97 |
9 |
67% |
1998-99 |
12 |
67% |
2000-01 |
15 |
53% |
2002-03 |
19 |
53% |
2004-05 |
20 |
35% |
2006-07 |
25 |
32% |
2008-09 |
48 |
35% |
2010-11 |
112 |
28% |
2012-13 |
49 |
35% |
Table 5.5. Starting dates for biology OA journals
Table 5.5 shows biology OA journals by starting date, including the percentage of journals started in a given date range that currently don’t charge APCs. (One 2014 journal is omitted.)
For DOAJ as a whole, there’s a sense of a gold rush starting in 2006, with a sharp increase in the percentage of APC-charging journals—and there’s certainly a sharp drop in the percentage of free biology journals, starting in 2004 rather than 2006. With one anomaly (both of the journals started in the 1960s currently charge APCs), at least half of the journals started in each time period prior to 2004 currently don’t charge APCs—but that’s true for barely more than a third in more recent periods. The gold rush shows here as a sharp increase in the overall number of biology OA journals beginning in 2008, most of those journals charging fees.
Figure 5.1 shows essentially the same information as Table 5.5, but as a graph with lines for free and APC-charging journals (since they’re lines without markers, the pre-1960 mark for free journals doesn’t show). Note the dramatic change starting in 2006.
Figure 5.1. Biology journals by starting date
Year | Journals | Articles | Art/Jrnl |
Pre-1960 |
6 |
308 |
51 |
1960-69 |
2 |
186 |
93 |
1970-79 |
2 |
117 |
59 |
1980-89 |
9 |
442 |
49 |
1990-91 |
1 |
30 |
30 |
1992-93 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1994-95 |
5 |
527 |
105 |
1996-97 |
9 |
483 |
54 |
1998-99 |
12 |
1,044 |
87 |
2000-01 |
15 |
1,082 |
72 |
2002-03 |
18 |
2,356 |
131 |
2004-05 |
20 |
2,872 |
144 |
2006-07 |
25 |
1,756 |
70 |
2008-09 |
48 |
2,559 |
53 |
2010-11 |
110 |
8,200 |
75 |
2012-13 |
49 |
2,165 |
44 |
Table 5.6. Articles per journal by starting date
Table 5.6 shows journals that published articles in 2013, when they started, 2013 articles and average articles per journal. Perhaps noteworthy are the high average articles per journal figures for 2002-2005.
Comments
The patterns are fairly clear: an unusually high percentage of very expensive journals, an unusually low percentage of articles in no-fee journals, a distinct gold rush in recent years.
Definitions and notes
See The Open Access Landscape: 1. Background for definitions and notes
If you’re interested in a book-form version of this material (with an additional bonus graph added in each chapter), let me know, either in a comment or by email to waltcrawford at gmail dot com