Open Access Ecology Journals

Here’s a list of Open Access journals that publish ecology related articles. I’m still working out what details to have for each journal, so suggestions welcome. When I have time, I will make a list that hyperlinks farther down the page to the more detailed information so there’s less scrolling (not sure if that’s easy in wordpress).

Most of my focus is on English-language journals for Ecology, but even for that discipline this is in no way an exhaustive list. New OA journals seems to be popping up everywhere these days. It will certainly be interesting to see the future of scientific publishing. More information on OA Journals is available through the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Let me know if you have suggestions of journals for me to add (dhocking at unh.edu). You can also tell me about any experience with these journals/publishers or if you know of other good options for ecology and conservation. I will also try to identify any predatory publishers using the amazing list compiled by Jeffery Beall at http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment (not all open access?)

• Publisher: Springer
• Society: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2010
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor: 2.295
• OA Cost: US$ 3000/EUR 2200 (excl. VAT).
• Judge Importance: Yes
• Acceptance Rate: 25%
• Publish Reviews: Yes
• Part of Review Cascade: No
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Animal Biodiversity and Conservation

• Publisher: The Natural Science Museum of Barcelona
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2001
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: $USD 0
• Judge Importance:
• Publish Reviews:
• Part of Review Cascade:
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Avian Conservation and Ecology

• Publisher: Resilience Alliance (sponsored by the Society of Canadian Ornithologists and Bird Studies Canada)
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2005
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: $750 CDN ($375 Forum, free invited review)
• Judge Importance:
• Publish Reviews: Yes
• Part of Review Cascade:
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Biodiversity Data Journal

• Publisher: Pensoft
• Indexed:
• Year Established:
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: Free Currently
• Judge Importance: Yes
• Publish Reviews: No
• Part of Review Cascade:
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

BMC Biology

• Publisher: BioMed Central
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2003
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Fator: 6.53
• OA Cost: $USD 1955
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

BMC Ecology

• Publisher: BioMed Central
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2001
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Fator: 1.87
• OA Cost: $USD 1955
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

BMC Evolutionary Biology

• Publisher: BioMed Central
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2001
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Fator:
• OA Cost: $USD 1955
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Computational Ecology and Software

• Publisher: International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2011
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: 400 Euro + 20 Euro per each page over 30 but free for 2012 & 2013
• Judge Importance:
• Publish Reviews:
• Part of Review Cascade:
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Ecological Processes

• Publisher: Springer (SpringerOpen)
• Indexed: Expected soon by ISI
• Year Established:
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: US$1140
• Judge Importance:
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews:
• Part of Review Cascade: Within SpringerOpen Journals
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Ecology and Evolution

• Publisher: Wiley
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2011
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor: 1.184
• OA Cost: $USD 1,950 (discounts available)
• Judge Importance:
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: Yes
• Part of Review Cascade: Yes
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Ecology and Society

• Publisher: Resilience Alliance
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2004
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor: 3.310
• OA Cost: $975+ CDN
• Judge Importance:
• Publish Reviews: Yes
• Part of Review Cascade:
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Ecosphere

• Publisher: Ecological Society of America
• Indexed: Not as of 02 March 2013
• Year Established: 2010
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor: Not calculated yet
• OA Cost: $USD 1250/1500 (members/non-members)
• Judge Importance: Yes
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: No

Elementa

• Publisher: BioOne?
• Indexed: Not yet
• Year Established: 2012
• Eigenfactor:
• OA Cost: $USD 1,450
• Judge Importance: No
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: No
• License: CC-BY 3.0 Unported

F1000Reseach (Now publishing Ecology articles): POST PUBLICATION OPEN PEER REVIEW

• Publisher: F1000 Research Ltd, which is a member of Science Navigation Group
• Indexed: Yes (except not yet ISI)
• Year Established: 2012
• Eigenfactor:
• OA Cost: $1000 or less
• Judge Importance:
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: Yes
• License: CC-BY 3.0 Unported

Frontiers in Zoology

• Publisher: BioMed Central (BMC)
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2004
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor: 3.87
• OA Cost: £1390/$2155/€1615
• Judge Importance:
• Publish Reviews: Yes
• Part of Review Cascade: No
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Herpetological Conservation and Biology

• Publisher: Herpetological Conservation & Biology
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2006
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor: 0.76 (2012: 5yr)
• OA Cost: No
• Judge Importance: Yes
• Acceptance Rate: 60%
• Publish Reviews: Yes

Ideas in Ecology and Evolution

• Publisher: Queen’s University
• Indexed: Partly (not by ISI)
• Year Established: 2008
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: $50 – 200 (Canadian)
• Judge Importance: Yes
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: Yes

Immediate Science Ecology

• Publisher: Queen’s University
• Indexed: Partly (not by ISI)
• Year Established: 2012
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: $50 (Canadian) – free for students and postdocs
• Judge Importance: Yes
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: Yes

International Journal of Ecology: Not listed as predatory but suspect

• Publisher: Hindawi Publishing Company
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2007
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: $USD 600
• Judge Importance: Yes
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: Yes

Journal of Biodiversity and Ecological Sciences (Publishing after 2012?)

• Publisher: IAU (Tonekabon Branch), Tonekabon, IRAN
• Indexed:
• Year Established: 2011
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost:
• Judge Importance:
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: Yes

Landscape Online

• Publisher: International Association for Landscape Ecology, Chapter Germany
• Indexed: Scopus
• Year Established: 2007
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost:
• Judge Importance:
• Publish Reviews: Yes
• Part of Review Cascade: Yes
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Natural Resources: PREDATORY

• Publisher: Scientific Research Publishing
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2010
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: $USD 500 +50 per page over 10
• Judge Importance:
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: Yes?

NeoBiota

• Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
• Indexed: Not Yet
• Year Established: 2011
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: €200+ (25% discount until indexed by ISI)
• Judge Importance:
• Publish Reviews: Yes
• Part of Review Cascade: No
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

The Open Ecology Journal: PREDATORY

• Publisher: Bentham open
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2008
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor: ~1.86
• OA Cost: $600-900
• Judge Importance:
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: Yes
• License: Creative Commons Attribution non-commercial License 3.0

Open Journal of Ecology: PREDATORY

• Publisher: Scientific Research Publishing
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2011
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: $USD 500 +50 per page over 10
• Judge Importance:
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: ?
• License: Creative Commons Attribution License

PeerJ (how PeerJ is changing everything)

• Publisher: PeerJ
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2012
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: Lifetime Membership ($USD 99 per author)
• Judge Importance: Yes
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: No (can upload as non-peer reviewed PrePrint)

PLoS Biology

• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2003
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: $USD 2900 (reduced for many countries or at request)
• Judge Importance: Yes
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews: Yes

PLoS ONE

• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established: 2006
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor:
• OA Cost: $USD 1350 (reduced for many countries or at request)
• Judge Importance: No
• Acceptance Rate: 69%
• Publish Reviews: No

Zoological Studies

• Publisher: Springer (SpringerOpen)
• Indexed: Yes
• Year Established:
• Eigenfactor:
• Impact Factor: 1.26
• OA Cost: US$0 (free) covered by Academia Sinica
• Judge Importance:
• Acceptance Rate:
• Publish Reviews:
• Part of Review Cascade: Within SpringerOpen Journals
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

OA Options of more traditional journals

Info on OA and For-Profit Status by Brian McGill
Acta Oecologica – Published by Elsevier which has been controversial in their relationship to the OA movement (here, here, here, current info). OA Option $USD 2500