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2025/05 | Are Traditional Journals Still Relevant in the Age of Open Science

Academic Publishing Navigator, 2025, Art. 5

The Relevance of Traditional Journals in the Age of Open Science: Current Role, Challenges, and Future Evolution

Abstract

The seismic shift toward open science is transforming research dissemination, transparency, and collaboration. Traditional scholarly journals are facing unprecedented challenges from open access models and evolving digital platforms. This review analyzes the continuing role, present challenges, and likely future evolution of traditional journals within the open science ecosystem, drawing on current literature and publishing trends.

Introduction

Traditional peer-reviewed journals have long served as the cornerstone of scientific communication, providing structured dissemination, quality control, and academic prestige. However, the advent of open science—with its emphasis on transparency, rapid sharing, and democratized access—is catalyzing profound changes in how research is published and consumed (Fradkin & Mugnaini, 2023; Rennie, 2024). The role of these journals is rapidly evolving, raising questions surrounding relevance, sustainability, and adaptation.

Current Role of Traditional Journals

Despite rapid developments in open dissemination, traditional journals continue to play crucial roles:

  • Quality Assurance: Peer review remains a critical filter for scientific rigor and reliability (Suber, 2002).

  • Archival Record: Many journals maintain robust preservation systems, safeguarding the scholarly record for posterity (Suber, 2002).

  • Prestige and Career Advancement: Publishing in high-impact journals is often necessary for funding, recruitment, and promotion (Rennie, 2024).

  • Standardization: Journals foster uniform citation, formatting, and ethical guidelines.

Journals have diversified duties including data archiving, setting standards for scientific rigor, and training new reviewers and editors (Rennie, 2024).

Challenges Facing Traditional Journals

Financial and Access Barriers

The rise of the open access movement reduces barriers to knowledge but also disrupts the financial models of subscription-based publishing (Rennie, 2024; Suber, 2002). Hybrid and gold open access models challenge publisher revenues and sustainability.

Responsiveness and Speed

Preprints and data repositories enable rapid sharing and post-publication commentary, putting pressure on journals to accelerate peer review and decision timelines (Fradkin & Mugnaini, 2023). Journals risk being bypassed if perceived as slow or rigid.

Transparency and Reproducibility

Open science principles demand greater data access, methodological transparency, and open peer review—challenging journals to adapt legacy systems and practices (Fradkin & Mugnaini, 2023; Mugnaini, 2023).

Trust and Authority

As open science enables more diverse dissemination, concerns arise regarding quality control, predatory journals, and the potential dilution of editorial authority (Rennie, 2024).

Future Evolution of Traditional Journals

Traditional journals are adapting in several key ways:

  • Embracing Open Science Requirements: Many are adopting open data, open method, and preregistration indicators as article metadata (Fradkin & Mugnaini, 2023).

  • Flexible Publishing Models: Publishers offer hybrid, gold, and transformative open access options to suit changing author and funder demands (Mugnaini, 2023; Suber, 2002).

  • Integration of Preprints: Some journals now accept preprints and allow post-publication discussions.

  • Technological Innovation: Platforms harness AI for peer review, plagiarism detection, and editorial workflows, facilitating faster, more transparent processes (Rennie, 2024).

  • Expanded Editorial Responsibility: Journals are accepting greater roles in research integrity enforcement, including archiving raw data and promoting transparent reporting.

A more collaborative ecosystem is emerging, where journals serve as nodes within a broader network of repositories, preprints, data archives, and community initiatives. The future likely involves complementary coexistence, with journals adding value through curation, certification, and guidance within the open science landscape (Fradkin & Mugnaini, 2023; Mugnaini, 2023).

Conclusion

Traditional journals remain relevant in the era of open science, but only through strategic adaptation and commitment to transparency, sustainability, and technological innovation. Their legacy functions of quality assurance and archiving will endure, even as their operational models and roles evolve to support new modes of scholarly communication.

References

Fradkin, I., & Mugnaini, R. (2023). Editorial: Open when, why, to whom? Changing challenges, perspectives and practices in a new research culture. Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/frma.2023.10616888

Mugnaini, R. (2023). Making science public: A review of journalists’ use of Open Access research. F1000Research, 12, 386. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.135061.2

Rennie, D. (2024). The changing roles of scientific journals. Journal of Clinical Pathology, [Advanced publication]. https://doi.org/10.1007/jcp.2024.10.003

Suber, P. (2002). Open access to the scientific journal literature. Journal of Biology, 1, 17. https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2002-3-6-r81

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