Comment on Would You Submit a Paper to This Publisher? by Jeff Shrager

My guess is that they are a software startup for the e-submit , and possibly related products. In order to test drive their software they need to run their own journals bcs no one else will use it until it’s proven. It is very common for such startups to (a) operate out of people’s bedrooms, (b) have first products that limp, but perhaps shine in one novel way (e.g., completely free publishing), and (c) have insane business models (e.g., books). Will this fly in the end? Hard to know. Who thought that either Yet Another Web Search Engine (now Google), or, later, broadcasting 140 character messages would take off? (Although entering the fray in journals seems much harder than something like Twitter, which at least started up in a tech tailwind as opposed to against a journal headwind!)