Journal of Cosmology is not a journal I've heard of before, and I work in cosmology. This sounds an alarm to me. If this is as big as claimed, then Science or Nature would have been the places to send it. My suspicion is that they've punted to this lesser known, more fringe journal because the results are not secure enough to go anywhere else - if not Nature then Astrophysical Journal or Bioastronomy or Astronomical Journal or Icarus - all have greater impact and reputation as far as I can tell.
That's interesting, and it's a journal I had also not heard of before. But then as you know, unlike you I'm very much on the outside looking in on something that interests me enormously. So I'd certainly be interested to read your take on this.
I found the site's design off-putting enough! As if whoever manages it hasn't updated their HTML skills since about 1995.
But note their "Because there are no subscription fees, publication costs are paid from an author's research budget, or by their supporting institution, in the form of Article Processing and Publication Fees." I can imagine amateur scientists paying up in the hope they'll see their work in print, but wouldn't real ones be a bit wary of vanity publications? I'd think it'd do their reputations more harm than good.
To be fair, page charges, as 'publishing fees' are called in paper journals like Astrophysical Journal, are actually quite common. In fact they're the rule to which free publication, paid for by subscribers, is the exception. A good journal is one that still requires things to be properly peer reviewed before publication even when they're requiring page charges. ApJ is one of these. I don't know if the same can be said of The Journal of Cosmology.
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But note their "Because there are no subscription fees, publication costs are paid from an author's research budget, or by their supporting institution, in the form of Article Processing and Publication Fees." I can imagine amateur scientists paying up in the hope they'll see their work in print, but wouldn't real ones be a bit wary of vanity publications? I'd think it'd do their reputations more harm than good.
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