Evolution of the scholarly mega-journal, 2006–2017

Abstract

Mega-journals are a new kind of scholarly journal made possible by electronic publishing. They are open access (OA) and funded by charges, which authors pay for the publishing services. What distinguishes mega-journals from other OA journals is, in particular, a peer review focusing only on scientific trustworthiness. The journals can easily publish thousands of articles per year and there is no need to filter articles due to restricted slots in the publishing schedule. This study updates some earlier longitudinal studies of the evolution of mega-journals and their publication volumes. After very rapid growth in 2010–2013, the increase in overall article volumes has slowed down. Mega-journals are also increasingly dependent for sustained growth on Chinese authors, who now contribute 25% of all articles in such journals. There has also been an internal shift in market shares. PLOS ONE, which totally dominated mega-journal publishing in the early years, currently publishes around one-third of all articles. Scientific Reports has grown rapidly since 2014 and is now the biggest journal.

Scholarly Journals’ Publication Frequency and Number of Articles in 2018–2019: A Study of SCI, SSCI, CSCD, and CSSCI Journals

“…Monthly is the most common frequency of SCI journals, while quarterly is the most common frequency of SSCI journals. The "mega journal" phenomenon described by Björk [3,4], Spezi et al [5], Wakeling et al [13], and others has not become a mainstream practice among SCI and SSCI journals, since only one sample (Sustainability, an SSCI monthly OA journal) of this study could be characterized as a "mega journal". "Issueless", described by Björk [3], has not become a common practice among SCI and SSCI journals either.…”

“…Björk [3] also mentioned in the same study that issueless publishing has become mainstream in OA publishing. Based on his own 2015 study, Björk [4] in 2018 studied 19 journals he categorized as mega journals and found that the "Big Two" mega journals, Scientific Reports and PLOS One, published a total of 41,175 articles in 2017. Björk [4] also found that 25% authors of these 19 mega journals are affiliated with Chinese institutions, with IEEE Access having 55% authors from China in 2017.…”

“…Based on his own 2015 study, Björk [4] in 2018 studied 19 journals he categorized as mega journals and found that the "Big Two" mega journals, Scientific Reports and PLOS One, published a total of 41,175 articles in 2017. Björk [4] also found that 25% authors of these 19 mega journals are affiliated with Chinese institutions, with IEEE Access having 55% authors from China in 2017. Spezi et al [5] reported that PLOS One, one of the largest OA journals, published 27,400 articles in 2015.…”

“…The new publishing models and new environment may lead to different results in the journal publication frequency and number of articles per year per journal. Björk [3,4] and Spezi et al [5] reported that some OA "mega journals" in the world publish hundreds or even thousands of articles per year. Feng and Yuan [6] and Gao and Zhang [7] found that most traditional (non-OA) journals in China charge authors fees.…”

Open and Shut: Open Access in Hybrid Educational Technology Journals 2010 – 2017

“…APCs were a response to the loss of revenue incurred by journals for no longer charging subscriptions. They enabled, for instance, a new form of journal known as the mega-journal pioneered by the Public Library of Science One (PLOS One) and were quickly co-opted by the major traditional publishers (Björk, 2018). In some fields, journals supported by APCs are well established (Berger & Cirasella, 2015).…”