Open scholarship (sometimes referred to as open research or, in a limited sense, open science) refers to a set of practices where open access is applied throughout academic research, scholarship, and teaching workflow.
This includes a more expansive approach where many objects beyond a manuscript could be made open access and include, but are not limited to research protocols, lab notebooks, code, syllabi, other educational resources, etc. While some forms of OA are mandated by universities or funders, researchers otherwise have discretion in choosing whether to make other objects openly available and at what point in the research process.
While these practices have become more well-established in certain scientific disciplines, they are continuing to expand and be developed in nearly all fields.
Aligning incentives
Some universities have developed policies and practices that encourage and/or require open practices. These are often found in promotion and tenure guidelines. These changes help create better alignment between a university’s public service mission and internal reward structure.
The so-called "reproducibility crisis" is thought to be a consequence of reward structures that favor novel results at the expense of sound research. Efforts to increase the reproducibility of research include many of the open scholarship practices listed above. Greater efforts are underway to incentivize open practices that aid in reproducibility rather than overly rewarding novel findings that may result from flawed studies. More information on reproducibility may be found at:
"Predatory" publishing commonly refers to low quality journals that engage in deceptive and/or fraudulent business practices. These journals often solicit manuscripts directly via email, charge APCs, and engage in little or low-quality peer review, editing, and production. Authors who work with "predatory publishers" may gain a quick turnaround time and boost in their CV at the risk of reputational and other harm during a future evaluation process.
While the "predatory" label is often applied to deceptive publishers that are not mainstream, the business practices of major conglomerate publishers (expensive subscriptions, pricy APCs, uncompensated labor, etc.) may also be considered predatory.
Authors are encouraged to use Think.Check.Submit when considering submitting a manuscript to an unfamiliar journal. You can learn more about "predatory" publishing at: