<p>I've always found it tricky. JASA has never been good for open access. But what else been good for signal processing, audio, and animal behaviour? It's rare to get all three. Some suggestions:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PLOS Computational Biology</a> - great on the computational and zoological aspects. <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/17595" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fully open access</a>. Check this one out, even though it's not &quot;signal processing&quot; per se.</li>
<li><a href="https://signalprocessingsociety.org/publications-resources/ieeeacm-transactions-audio-speech-and-language-processing/about-taslp" rel="nofollow noreferrer">IEEE/ACM Transactions on Audio, Speech, and Language Processing</a> - great on audio, signal processing, computation. Quite rare to have animal-related content. Since your question mentioned signal processing methods as a focus, I suggest considering this one. <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/28112" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Their open access policy</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/ecological-informatics" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ecological Informatics</a> - good on animals and computation, though not focussed on audio sig proc. It's Elsevier. <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/15553" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Their OA policy</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://peerj.com/computer-science/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PeerJ Computer Science</a> - a modern &quot;megajournal&quot; which might be broad enough for sig proc, and whose processes I like. However it's not a big fish in this domain. And it just got bought by Taylor &amp; Francis so who knows what's next. <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/32191" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fully open-access</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sensors</a> (MDPI). Fully open-access, in MDPI's general mega-journal-like style. The article quality is quite variable but, especially if you get the right editors or the right special issue, it can be a good venue.</li>
<li><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsif" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Royal Society Interface</a> - this journal is good, having a review/editorial board that covers life sciences as well as other quantitative/computational sciences, and benefits from the prestige of the Royal Society. <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/11598" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Their OA policy</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><em>(Disclosure: I act as an academic editor in both Plos Comp Biol and PeerJ CS.)</em></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-22T07:18:55.587Z
Thanks Dan!  I've had bad experiences with PLoS One in the past, however I don't know how different the separate journals are in the publishing processing, and it is promising knowing you're behind the wheel of one of them. :)

Ecological Informatics has a higher impact than JASA, and is cheaper for OA. Something to consider...
etgriffiths
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-22T07:21:50.467Z
Plos Comp Biol is quite different from Plos One, I believe, since the board (and thus the reviewer pool) is much more focussed
Dan Stowell
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-24T02:27:13.717Z
Thanks Dan, great response! Sounds to me like there may be a niche available for a diamond open access journal similar in scope to (at least large sections of) JASA and Applied Acoustics that covers bioacoustics, behaviour, sound production, audition and acoustic anatomy and physiology, signal processing/ML, audio, behaviour, etc. I'd certainly publish there anyway. Bonus points if it has a cool name/acronym.
Brian Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-22T07:09:07.597Z
2024-07-22T07:52:29.893Z
2024-07-22T07:52:29.893Z
Dan Stowell
<p>My career focus has always been straddling the fence between application and innovation. JASA is really good at reaching an audience who might be interested in such work. If that description applies to you as well, then you might want to consider:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/applied-acoustics" rel="noreferrer">Applied Acoustics</a> - Same vibe as JASA, but with that slight international flavour you seem to be asking for. More expensive than JASA, and potentially longer time-to-decision, but higher impact factor. Technical papers are fine and common here, but as the title suggests, theoretical work need not apply (see what I did there :-P).</li>
<li><a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/20563485" rel="noreferrer">Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation</a> - The title may mislead some people, but passive acoustic monitoring fully qualifies as &quot;remote sensing&quot; by the standards of this journal. Additionally, technical articles are in-scope for this journal, and possibly even pure theory might be okay-- so long as it aligns with remote sensing, ecology, and/or conservation focus (but in my experience this means articles lean strongly toward applications). Again, more expensive than JASA, but higher impact factor and open-access only.</li>
<li><a href="https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jel" rel="noreferrer">JASA Express Letters</a> - Same great JASA crowd, same great JASA flavour, but only bite-sized short-form articles, online only, open-access. Comes with a side of reasonable publication fees, and also a quick time-to-decision. With declining attention spans, and the glut of predatory junk publications, there's a case to be made to switch to a diet of high-quality hors d'oeuvres instead of a big-stodgy main dish.</li>
</ol>
<p>Hmmm... that went in a slightly unexpected direction, must be lunch time.</p>
<p>To wrap-up: even with open-access fee increases, JASA still seems to be more affordable than comparable options that reach similar audiences. And even without paying for open-access, they still permit authors to share pre-prints on their own website.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-24T05:47:13.313Z
I would agree that given the reputation of JASA the publication fee may be justified.
WMXZ
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-16T14:23:55.863Z
Thanks Brian! This is a great roundup.  Remote Sensing actually may be something I should have looked at first, thinking about the scope of my project. Unfortunately the paper is too long for JASA-EL.
etgriffiths
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-22T07:10:39.807Z
JASA "is really good at reaching an audience", as you say, but not all audiences. Because they're not very open-access-friendly, most of the world typically has limited access to their back catalogue. Even here in Europe I've had difficulties accessing the content, since many institutions don't have a subscription by default!
Dan Stowell
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-24T02:01:30.130Z
2024-06-24T02:01:30.130Z
Brian Miller
<p>Now that JASA is changing its Open Access framework and pricing, do folks have other favorite journals for acoustically technical journals? Perhaps not as technical as IEEE, but perhaps a journal outside of America that gets overlooked for signal processing methods?</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-21T15:48:24.463Z
For those interested https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/pages/charges gives some insight.
WMXZ
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-25T09:09:29.497Z
Maybe I’m mistaken, but was JASA ever really easily open access? It was always a mandatory fee for open access as long as I remember. Seems the only recent change is an increase from USD2200 to $2600, no?
Brian Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-22T07:13:43.897Z
@BrianMiller it just makes it harder to justify the cost for OA the more expensive it gets.
etgriffiths
<discussion>
New journals now that JASA isn't easily open access?
# New journals now that JASA isn't easily open access?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-06-21)

Now that JASA is changing its Open Access framework and pricing, do folks have other favorite journals for acoustically technical journals? Perhaps not as technical as IEEE, but perhaps a journal outside of America that gets overlooked for signal processing methods?

Cheers!

**Tags:** discussion

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: For those interested https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/pages/charges gives some insight.  
> **username_2**: Maybe I’m mistaken, but was JASA ever really easily open access? It was always a mandatory fee for open access as long as I remember. Seems the only recent change is an increase from USD2200 to $2600, no?  
> **username_0**: @username_2 it just makes it harder to justify the cost for OA the more expensive it gets.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-06-24. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

My career focus has always been straddling the fence between application and innovation. JASA is really good at reaching an audience who might be interested in such work. If that description applies to you as well, then you might want to consider:

1. [Applied Acoustics](https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/applied-acoustics) - Same vibe as JASA, but with that slight international flavour you seem to be asking for. More expensive than JASA, and potentially longer time-to-decision, but higher impact factor. Technical papers are fine and common here, but as the title suggests, theoretical work need not apply (see what I did there :-P).
2. [Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation](https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/20563485) - The title may mislead some people, but passive acoustic monitoring fully qualifies as "remote sensing" by the standards of this journal. Additionally, technical articles are in-scope for this journal, and possibly even pure theory might be okay-- so long as it aligns with remote sensing, ecology, and/or conservation focus (but in my experience this means articles lean strongly toward applications). Again, more expensive than JASA, but higher impact factor and open-access only.
3. [JASA Express Letters](https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jel) - Same great JASA crowd, same great JASA flavour, but only bite-sized short-form articles, online only, open-access. Comes with a side of reasonable publication fees, and also a quick time-to-decision. With declining attention spans, and the glut of predatory junk publications, there's a case to be made to switch to a diet of high-quality hors d'oeuvres instead of a big-stodgy main dish.

Hmmm... that went in a slightly unexpected direction, must be lunch time.

To wrap-up: even with open-access fee increases, JASA still seems to be more affordable than comparable options that reach similar audiences. And even without paying for open-access, they still permit authors to share pre-prints on their own website.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I would agree that given the reputation of JASA the publication fee may be justified.  
> **username_0**: Thanks username_2! This is a great roundup.  Remote Sensing actually may be something I should have looked at first, thinking about the scope of my project. Unfortunately the paper is too long for JASA-EL.  
> **username_3**: JASA "is really good at reaching an audience", as you say, but not all audiences. Because they're not very open-access-friendly, most of the world typically has limited access to their back catalogue. Even here in Europe I've had difficulties accessing the content, since many institutions don't have a subscription by default!  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-07-22. Score: 5

I've always found it tricky. JASA has never been good for open access. But what else been good for signal processing, audio, and animal behaviour? It's rare to get all three. Some suggestions:

* [PLOS Computational Biology](https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/) - great on the computational and zoological aspects. [Fully open access](https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/17595). Check this one out, even though it's not "signal processing" per se.
* [IEEE/ACM Transactions on Audio, Speech, and Language Processing](https://signalprocessingsociety.org/publications-resources/ieeeacm-transactions-audio-speech-and-language-processing/about-taslp) - great on audio, signal processing, computation. Quite rare to have animal-related content. Since your question mentioned signal processing methods as a focus, I suggest considering this one. [Their open access policy](https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/28112).
* [Ecological Informatics](https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/ecological-informatics) - good on animals and computation, though not focussed on audio sig proc. It's Elsevier. [Their OA policy](https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/15553).
* [PeerJ Computer Science](https://peerj.com/computer-science/) - a modern "megajournal" which might be broad enough for sig proc, and whose processes I like. However it's not a big fish in this domain. And it just got bought by Taylor & Francis so who knows what's next. [Fully open-access](https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/32191).
* [Sensors](https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors) (MDPI). Fully open-access, in MDPI's general mega-journal-like style. The article quality is quite variable but, especially if you get the right editors or the right special issue, it can be a good venue.
* [Royal Society Interface](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsif) - this journal is good, having a review/editorial board that covers life sciences as well as other quantitative/computational sciences, and benefits from the prestige of the Royal Society. [Their OA policy](https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/11598).

*(Disclosure: I act as an academic editor in both Plos Comp Biol and PeerJ CS.)*

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks Dan!  I've had bad experiences with PLoS One in the past, however I don't know how different the separate journals are in the publishing processing, and it is promising knowing you're behind the wheel of one of them. :)  Ecological Informatics has a higher impact than JASA, and is cheaper for OA. Something to consider...  
> **username_3**: Plos Comp Biol is quite different from Plos One, I believe, since the board (and thus the reviewer pool) is much more focussed  
> **username_2**: Thanks Dan, great response! Sounds to me like there may be a niche available for a diamond open access journal similar in scope to (at least large sections of) JASA and Applied Acoustics that covers bioacoustics, behaviour, sound production, audition and acoustic anatomy and physiology, signal processing/ML, audio, behaviour, etc. I'd certainly publish there anyway. Bonus points if it has a cool name/acronym.  

---

