@DewiLanglet This is interesting but disturbing. I've been an Associate Editor at a Frontiers journal for a long time, and sometimes review.The article fees are not low but there are standards. I take submissions seriously, reviewers take them seriously, etc. Articles I've worked on or read don't necessarily have the most striking or straightforward results compared to other journals, but it's real science. Mixed feelings about special issues as growth strategy, but result not necessarily bad.
@DewiLanglet Maybe it's worth making a distinction between different varieties of predation. There's a difference between having an aggressive promotional strategy and having absurdly low standards. The former is obnoxious; the latter is evil. (I won't defend bad special issues. I haven't seen them, but there are lot of Frontiers journals and special issues, so I accept that they exist, and I can see how Frontiers' special issue strategy could result in that happening sometimes.)
@marshall_0i @DewiLanglet Agree that it depends a lot on journal and editor. I have heard of some bad practices: editors kicking negative reviewers off papers until they find a reviewer willing to publish.
@marshall_0i @jerlich @DewiLanglet
It's a pretty surprising result and suggests to me that people are using a much lower bar for 'predatory' than the old Beall's list criteria. I mean frontiers is one of the top 5 publishers now isn't it? I've published in Frontiers in sustainable food systems and really liked the dynamic review process.
@ErikDee @jerlich @DewiLanglet Yeah. None of us would view a one-sentence popup poll on social media as a valid scientific instrument 🙂, but that 27 people (63 * 0.43) who know what Frontiers is were willing to chose "predatory" makes me think the bar was low at the moment they responded, or they were partly joking, or maybe neither but they'd had particularly bad experiences. Earlier comments about pushing special issues seems to reflect a real concern I wouldn't use "predatory" for that.
@jerlich @DewiLanglet Wow, didn't know about that. In theory I guess that could happen at any journal, but the Frontiers interface and the way it can suggest reviewers could make it easier. If it's an associate editor doing that, I wonder whether the section editor knows and approves. Obviously shouldn't happen.