Open Access Publishing in Aerospace – Opportunities and Pitfalls

The first Open Access (OA) peer reviewed online journals in aerospace were all established after 2007. Still today more and more OA aerospace journals get started. Many publishers are located in less developed countries. The benefits of OA publishing are undisputed in the academic community, but there is disagreement if the new publishers can work to required standards. The current situation is evaluated based on an Internet review. OA journals in aerospace are listed with their major characteristics. Well known OA publishers charge high publication fees, whereas less known OA publishers tend to charge relatively low fees. All publishers need to be carefully checked for their level of rigor in peer review and their offered service in the scholarly publication process. Authors should evaluate OA journals and publishers against provided lists of criteria before submitting their work.