Thanks, all. I also read
https://www.ce-strategy.com/the-brief/not-so-special/

Some truly incredible (or outrageous?) numbers related to special issues:

   - "Even more problematic for Wiley is that special issues appear to be
   remarkably profitable, resulting in a $25 million impact on Adjusted EBITDA
   (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). *That
   is to say, Wiley earns an 80% margin on special issues*, resulting in an
   outsized margin impact on overall revenue."


   - "As THE notes, MDPI’s two flagship journals—the International Journal
   of Molecular Sciences and Sustainability—have announced, respectively,
   3,514 and 3,512 special issues with a closing date in 2023. That works out
   to a *mind-boggling 9 special issues a day—for each journal*!"

Tim

On Thu, Mar 30, 2023 at 2:09 PM Taylor, Anneliese <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thanks for sharing this, Michael. Timely given all the news coming out
> about problems with special issues in MDI and Hindawi journals like:
>
>
> https://www.science.org/content/article/fast-growing-open-access-journals-stripped-coveted-impact-factors
>
> https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2023/03/30/guest-post-of-special-issues-and-journal-purges/
>
> I also saw a (thankfully succinct) slide deck on LinkedIn about MDPI from
> the publisher-centric Journalology newsletter. I've attached it for
> reference since the link below might require logging in to the site:
> https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jwbutcher_a-million-ways-mdpi-has-changed-scholarly-activity-7023185076414763008-WE8H/
>
> Best,
> Anneliese
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Scholarly Communications CKG <[log in to unmask]> on
> behalf of Michael Ladisch <
> [log in to unmask]>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 22, 2023 4:48 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> *Subject:* [SCCKG] Blog Post about MDPI
>
> Hi all, That’s an interesting and very detailed blog post about the pros
> and cons of MDPI. It’s along read and the post has already 145 comments …
> https: //paolocrosetto. wordpress.
> com/2021/04/12/is-mdpi-a-predatory-publisher/ Best Michael
> -------------------------
> ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerStart
> This Message Is From an External Sender
> This message came from outside your organization.
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>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> That’s an interesting and very detailed blog post about the pros and cons
> of MDPI. It’s along read and the post has already 145 comments …
>
>
> https://paolocrosetto.wordpress.com/2021/04/12/is-mdpi-a-predatory-publisher/
>
>
>
> Best
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> -------------------------
>
> Michael Ladisch
>
> Scholarly Communications Officer
>
> University of California Davis, Library
>
> 100 North West Quad
>
> Davis, CA 95616-5292
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> (530) 752-6385
>
>
>


-- 
Timothy Vollmer
Scholarly Communication & Copyright Librarian
University of California, Berkeley
Doe Library, 189 Annex
Berkeley, CA 94720
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Pronouns: he/him