Chung-Hao Lee

March 1, 2021

Chung-Hao Lee is an Associate Professor for the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering department of the Gallogly Department of Engineering. Dr. Lee is an Affiliated Faculty Member of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology (IBEST) at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of the open articles An Investigation of the Anisotropic Mechanical Properties and Anatomical Structure of Porcine Atrioventicular Heart Valves and Shape Memory Polyurethane with Porous Architectures for Potential Applications in Intracranial Aneurysm Treatment.   

 Why do you choose to publish open access?

It used to be a practice in my field not to publish any papers in open-access journals, as these journals weren’t the highly recognized ones, and the journal review & publishing processes weren’t necessarily academically rigorous. This culture of scientific publishing has dramatically changed in recent days, greatly due to open access policies required by more funding agencies (e.g., the NIH, AHA, etc.). Now, there are more and more top-tier journals becoming purely open access (such as my recent work in Nature’s Scientific Reports) or providing an open-access publication option in addition to the traditional subscription. Another reason for publishing my research in open-access journals is actually promoted by the Open Access Fund generously sponsored by OU Libraries. Publishing in those open-access journals allows others to easily access the research papers without needing to subscribe to the journal and is also beneficial in increasing the visibility of my work.   

 Would you encourage others to publish open access? If so, why?

I would highly recommend this journal publication option, as long as the journal is not a phishing one. Easy access for other researchers, an increase in the visibility of the research work, and fast publication turn-around are benefits I’ve seen by publishing articles in open-access journals.   

 Did you experience any challenges publishing open access, and if so, describe them?

I have not had any bad experience in publishing my papers in open access journals. Two potential challenges would need to be considered: (i) whether the journal is spam or phishing (primarily seeking the open-access publication fee without guaranteeing the quality of the work), and (ii) whether funding support is available to cover the fee (sometimes as expensive as US$2,000). Then again, many traditional publications charge for figures, page charges, and support is often required there too.