What Can We Learn From Open Access Journals in the Arab States? | Katina Magazine

"Perhaps most notably, the vast majority of the mapped journals—99 percent—are open access, due in part to the initial emphasis on DOAJ and PKP datasets. The Levant has the largest percentage of active open-access journals, at 100 percent of mapped journals. The North African bloc has the second largest percentage of open-access journals (at over 99.8 percent of active journals identified within the subregion). Open-access models account for about 98.4 percent of active journals in the Gulf and 96 percent of active journals mapped in the Sub-Saharan bloc. It is worth highlighting that the preeminence of open access publications across the Arab region has largely occurred without national or regional mandates or centralized advocacy.

Of course, some of these journals were launched with an eye on potential revenue streams for the organizations that own them. However, given the high rate of diamond open access journals in every Arab state—including 61 percent of the open access journals mapped in North Africa, 34 percent of those in the Gulf, 56 percent of those from Sub-Saharan African states, and 17 percent of those in the Levant—it is evident that, in many cases, the journal owners have simply internalized the cost, rightly viewing these publications as valuable assets that showcase their faculty research and enhance their institutional prestige...."