Upfront
The new APA journal Archives of Scientific Psychology published its first articles this summer. The Archives is APA's first open-access, open-methods, open-data journal — papers are available for free at PsycNET®.
Like many open-access journals, revenue will come from publication fees paid by authors instead of from subscription fees. But for now, it will be free to publish in the journal as well. APA's Publications and Communications Committee is waiving all author fees through 2014, and any author whose paper is accepted during that time period will get a lifetime fee waiver.
"We know there are disincentives to publishing in a start-up journal, especially one as unique as this one," says Harris Cooper, PhD, of Duke University, co-editor of the journal with APA Publisher Gary VandenBos, PhD. "So this is APA's way of saying that we're committed to it, and you should be as well, because this is the wave of the future."
APA is examining other revenue models as well, in an effort to keep the fees as low as possible when they do return, according to the editors.
The Archives is also the first APA journal to require all authors to contribute the data presented in the papers to a repository, where access may be requested by other qualified researchers. To that end, the journal's editors have partnered with the University of Michigan's Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), which will collect and house the data. ICPSR is an ideal partner for the new journal, according to the editors.
"They've been at the forefront of the data sharing movement for decades," Cooper says. "They're the premiere location for data depositing within the social sciences."
— Lea Winerman
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