Society journals: case studies

Society-affiliated journals, whether previously self-published, transferred from a subscription-based arrangement with another publisher, or initiated as an open access journal, represent the fastest growing segment for Chemistry Central's sister publishing company BioMed Central.

BioMed Central also publish a number of journals on behalf of governmental agencies. Relatively recent transfers of such journals to BioMed Central included Journal of Biomedical Science, which is sponsored by the National Science Council of Taiwan, and Genetics Selection Evolution, a publication from the portfolio of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomiqe. Both journals are set to improve their rankings as a consequence of their conversion to open access but their transfer is too recent for the effect to show.

Examples such as the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases show how the worldwide momentum of the open access movement, the open access citation advantage and the quality of BioMed Central’s technology and services combine to provide journals, whether established or start-up titles, with a solid basis for rising towards the top of their categories.

A study published in the journal Learned Publishing in April 2010 presented a broader overview of societies and open access along with a number of case studies drawn from BioMed Central’s portfolio of society journals. The following snippets with highlights are taken from this study but readers can easily retrieve the full article as it is open access.

Case study 1: Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica
Rising through the ranks

Case study 2: Frontiers in Zoology
A newcomer set for the top

Case study 3: Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research
Article-processing charges (APCs) in practice

Please contact us on journalproposal@biomedcentral.com if you wish to propose a new open access journal or discuss the transfer of an already existing title.