IJAHP: Mu/ Open access journal as global agoras 

 

 
 
 

International Journal of the 

Analytic Hierarchy Process 

1 Vol. 8 Issue 1 2016 

ISSN 1936-6744 

http://dx.doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v8i1.382 

 
 
April 2016 

 

Open Access Journals as Global Agoras 

 

Dear IJAHP Reader: 

 

The ancient Greeks used to congregate in the agora, a central open space or square in their city 

states, to listen to statements from the council or military bosses or to simply discuss politics as 

needed. The agora was the center for discussions by the free thinkers in the city. Our global 

knowledge society does not have this physical open space, but the web and in particular open 

access journals, fill this need for a central conversational cyberspace where scholars, interested in 

similar topics, can exchange ideas through their essays and research studies.  

 

Why is this relevant to our journal? When a potential author submits a paper to a journal, s/he is 

joining a conversation in this modern agora; therefore, it is expected that this author will be 

familiar with what is being discussed and the different ideas and arguments surrounding the topic. 

There is nothing more frustrating for a journal editor than to realize that a potential author is not 

aware of the ongoing conversation about the chosen topic in the current journal. The effect is 

similar to someone interrupting a conversation to say something that was already said a few 

minutes ago. There have been several discussions concerning the ethics of requesting potential 

authors to cite papers from the same journal. At IJAHP, we do not condone this approach. 

However, we do expect potential authors to be familiar with the ongoing IJAHP conversation 

about the topic of choice as this shows their suitability to join our specific agora to discuss the 

particular selected topic.  

 

Thanks for your support and enjoy this issue! 

 

 
 

Enrique Mu, PhD 

IJAHP 

Editor-in-chief