Pay to Play

In case you were not aware, there is a relatively new sports journal offering research publishing opportunities. The Journal of Physical Education and Sports Management publishes original articles in basic and applied research, case studies, critical reviews, surveys, essays, opinions and commentaries. JPESM is currently looking for qualified researchers to join its editorial team as editors, sub-editors and/or reviewers.

I didn't know much about this journal, but one of the interesting (and at least to me, discouraging) things I found was this note on their website: "Authors are required to pay a $550 dollar handling fee." Although the journal explains that publication is not contingent upon the author's ability to pay, and the journal may waive some of the fee under special circumstances, that still seems like a bad precedent to me. I assume it's because the journal is "open access," which means it's not charging a subscription for other people to see it. But $550 is a lot of money to me, and it seems like it would discourage some otherwise good scholarship. I hope it is not the wave of the future in terms of journal economics. I understand the realities of the publishing business, but I can't see how this model can sustain itself (especially since the journal publishes monthly).

Anyway, if you are interested in becoming an editor or helping the journal, you can contact them at manuscript.jpesm@gmail.com. If you are interested in submitting, there is more information available at this link.