Perspective on Open Access Journals

Open Access Journals (OAJ) are scientific periodicals which are generically published on-line and can be accessed by readers free of charge. The majority of OAJ, the number of which has increased explosively in the recent years, depends on publication fees they charge from their authors. This dependence is a potential threat to the criticality of refereeing process and hence to the quality of the accepted articles. OAJ, on the one hand, bring the opportunity of a wider, faster and easier access for their readership and the spread of research results and on the other hand, have the threat of low quality papers. In this article we discuss the phenomenon of OAJ, the opportunities and threats associated with them, and the appropriate ways to face this phenomenon in the scientific research in Iran.