Open Access Journals are like a Box of Chocolates

摘要

You never know what you're going to get. It’s the truth and, unfortunately, it’s a truth that every Open Access journal in every field will need to overcome in the next five years if the Open Access model is to gain legitimacy as a means of disseminating knowledge. Offering knowledge in a free and open manner is wonderful. Everyone likes a free gift. However, if the gift you receive, even if it is free, is of little use or relevance to you, then the free gift is valueless. In the same way, if the knowledge disseminated through Open Access journal is irrelevant, lacking rigour, tautological, and/or meaningless, then the journal, even though it offers its knowledge for free, becomes valueless. In this brief editorial I discuss some of the necessary steps Open Access journals will need to take in order to gain legitimacy as a means of disseminating knowledge and overcome some of the perceptions that currently burden Open Access journals.