Open Access in Scholarly Publishing: Where Does the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health Fit In?

A quick Google or similar internet search will bring up multiple links with “What is open access,” “How do I publish open access,” and “Why open access” in the titles. Although open access (OA) publishing is becoming much more common, questions remain for many authors. It is timely to provide Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health (JMWH) readers and authors an update on OA and subscription publishing.

Historically, the cost of publishing scholarly journals has been covered by subscription charges. Individual readers, members of professional societies for society-owned journals like JMWH, and libraries and other institutions paid for print subscriptions or online access. Copyright was transferred by the author to the journal owner, typically the society or the publisher. The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) owns JMWH, thus authors transfer copyright to ACNM.  Published articles could be accessed and read by members, individual subscribers, or those with access through an institutional library license. In addition, readers who were not subscribers of a specific journal and did not have access through a library collection could access articles online by paying fees assessed by publishers.

While subscriptions to journals remain common, a transition to more OA publishing is underway. OA means that articles are freely accessible online, supported through Article Processing Charges (APCs) paid by authors, or their funders, or institutions.¹

While some journals are fully OA, JMWH is a hybrid journal because we publish both subscription articles, and OA articles where authors (or their funder or institution) pay the APC.  In 2020, 6 articles were published OA in JMWH. In 2023, that number increased nearly 5 times to 29. While the JMWH APC for 2024 is $3570 per article, the fee is often paid by research or other grant funding, or through institutions via their transformational agreements with the publisher. Authors with questions about whether the APC to publish OA in JMWH is covered through a transformational agreement can contact the librarian at their institution.

With JMWH, OA is offered to the authors after peer review, revision, and once the article has been accepted for publication. One reason for the increased interest in OA is the fact that most research is funded through taxpayer dollars, and some research funders require OA publication as a condition of grant funding. In addition, OA publication makes research more available to the public.¹ When publishing OA, copyright is typically retained by the author under a Creative Commons license.² Articles that are published OA are available online at no cost to any reader anywhere in the world with online access. Publishers are supporting institutions in the transition to OA with transformational agreements. These agreements offer read access to a specific set of journals as well as APCs for authors, often at a discount.³ The increase in access is positive in a number of ways, but there are also drawbacks.

Benefits of OA to authors include wider availability of their articles, which may promote further research and other scholarship in that topic area. In addition, OA articles  are more likely to be seen by more readers. Articles that directly impact clinical practice may impact clinical care with the possibility of improving clinical outcomes. Recognition of published articles, especially citations of those articles, can be a benefit for scholars, particularly those in academic settings. Greater access to published research does benefit the public, particularly where taxpayer funds are used to support the research.

Drawbacks to OA publishing include the fact that many authors do not have access to funds to cover the APC. For example, a midwife in a small or solo practice may not have access to help from the practice, and the fee is a burden for most clinicians. In addition, OA is abused by predatory publishers who exploit the OA model using deceptive practices to attract manuscript submissions. Important aspects of scholarly publication such as peer review and ethical practices may not be included. Authors may be lured to a journal by promises of fast turnaround times for publication. Predatory publication has been previously discussed in JMWH.⁴ Additional OA drawbacks relate to inequities in low- and middle-income countries, where access to funding for APCs is less available, and internet access is unavailable or unreliable in many parts of the world. For fully OA journals, an organization called Research4Life makes APCs no cost or at substantial discounts in countries that meet specific criteria and provides eligible countries access to international peer-reviewed journals and more.⁵

Our commitment at JMWH is to keep abreast of current trends in scholarly publishing and adhere to the highest ethical standards. Current OA initiatives include the recent Plan S, which represents a group of primarily European funders ,⁶ requiring publication in fully OA journals as a condition of research grants. However, several Plan S funders are changing their grant conditions. In the United States, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has called for immediate access to all federally funded research published in journals by December 31, 2025.⁷ Implementation of OSTP's policy guidance will be handled at the agency level and details about licensing and grant support for APCs are not yet fully available.

ACNM and JMWH editorial leadership are committed to fair and equitable access to JMWH in keeping with our Aims and Scope. We welcome your communication as we continue to provide readers and authors with current information and guidance related to all aspects of publication in the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health.