Colloquium on Quality indicators for young (OA) journals

"New quality indicators for young (open access) journals will be presented and demonstrated at a high level expert colloquium during the international Open Access week. Research funders, editors-in-chief of prestigious academic journals, and publishers will come together on 22 and 23 October at a two day retreat in Rotterdam to discuss and test the indicators and give their verdict.   Initiative to develop new indicators The Netherlands Research Organisation (NWO), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam University Press (AUP) and SURF (national Dutch ICT organisation for higher education) have launched a shared initiative to establish two indicators: one for the quality of the editors and one for the quality of the peer review process. The former is being developed by the Leiden University research institute CWTS, while a group of young researchers led by Jelte Wicherts is establishing the latter. The Rotterdam Colloquium During the Colloquium on Quality indicators for young (OA) journals, the indicators will be discussed in an international expert forum with research sponsers, editors-in-chief of academic journals, and publishers. Based on their verdict in the discussion, the indicators will be concluded upon and released. Publishers of new journals can then advertise their score on the journal, while research sponsors could use the indicators in granting open access publication fees. And last but not least, authors will have a reliable source of information on where to publish their work Background The number of scientific open access journals is experiencing spectacular growth with over a thousand new journals appearing every year. Although the quality diverges significantly, no standardized indication of their quality exists as of yet. Some journals are started by established publishers, but in most cases new players are involved. In their recent declaration Open Science for the 21st century,  adopted by the European Commission, the European Federation of National Academies of Sciences and Humanities, emphasizes the need for quality assurance of both publications and datasets. The declaration has been adopted by the European Commission and Vice-President Neelie Kroes will deliver an opening message to the colloquium. Initiatives like the list of Predatory Open Access publishers and Retraction Watch stress the urgency of the quality issue. Open Access journals   For young journals no indicator of their potential is available at the moment. Such an indicator would be especially relevant for young Open Access  journals. Apart from the problem of funding Open Access publications, the lack of reliable indicators of quality is the main barrier for authors to publish in these journals as was also shown by the European project  SOAP. Moreover, a generic quality indicator for young journals would also level the playing field for Open Access journals as young subscription journals are often included in the protecting environment of a licensed package. Thus, the indicator would also meet a recommendation to that effect of the EC Study on the economic and technical evolution of the scientific publication markets in Europe."