Directory of Open Access Journals Introduces New Standards to Help Community Address Quality Concerns | SPARC

"After all the hard work that scholars put into their research, they are eager to have the papers reporting on their work widely read.  Many understand that publishing their article in an Open Access journal provides them with the opportunity to reach the widest possible audience.  However, lingering concerns about the quality of open access journals have kept some academics from fully embracing the innovative publishing model.  The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), a comprehensive international database of more than 10,000 Open Access journals, recently implemented a rigorous new vetting process that aims to raise the bar of quality for the journals it lists and filters out publications that are tarnishing the image of Open Access. Lars Bjørnshauge, Managing Director of the DOAJ in Copenhagen and director of SPARC Europe, helped to spearhead the expanded review process, which began in March of 2014. The application that must be approved to get into the directory now includes about 50 questions rather than just seven. The questions explore aspects of the journal ranging from the transparency of the journal’s editorial processes to peer review and selection criteria, to plagiarism screening mechanisms, requiring full disclosure on all of these areas before a journal is accepted for inclusion in the DOAJ database. The DOAJ currently includes 10,000 journals, each of which has been invited to re-apply for inclusion in the directory under the new procedure.  This unprecedented, comprehensive review is currently underway, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. Since the new criteria were established in March 2014, DOAJ  has received 4100 applications from journals, many duplicates. 700 have been included, 1100 have been rejected and 2300 are pending or in process.  During the same period (12 months) 175 journals has been removed from DOAJ ... Not only do these standards cover appropriate peer review practices, but they also address issues such as long-term archiving, how conflicts of interest are handled, and transparency regarding a publication's business model and advertising policies, notes Peters, who also currently serves as the President of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), the leading trade association for Open Access publishers. By updating its application process to include these criteria, the DOAJ will be able to help the research community identify Open Access journals that are meeting these standards of best practice ..."