Category Archives: oa.ojs

EIFL support energizes Ethiopia OA journals sector | EIFL

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“With support from EIFL, Addis Ababa University Libraries (AAUL) has increased access to and visibility of research from academic institutions across Ethiopia by upgrading the national open access publishing platform, Ethiopian Journals Online (EJOL), and adding 21 new journals from 10 institutions to the platform. 

As part of the ‘Enhancing Ethiopian Journals Online’ project, AAUL has improved the look and feel of EJOL, with customized pages for each journal, including updated journal profiles and useful information for authors and reviewers (editorial policies, author guidelines, reviewer guidelines). 

By configuring editorial workflows, the project has made the platform more efficient, and integration of DOIs has made journals and articles easier to locate. 

The project team also provided training for librarians, journal editors and editorial staff to familiarize them with the upgraded journals platform and its new functionalities. 

In addition, 20 journal editors took part in workshops on the use of the publishing software, Open Journal Systems (OJS), and  the eligibility standards and criteria required for indexing in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).  Journal editors also received journal policy templates.”

Perspectives on Medical Education transfers publishers to ]u[ Ubiquity Press | STM Publishing News

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“International journal Perspectives on Medical Education (PME) has moved publisher, transferring from large, traditional publisher Springer Nature to the fully open access and open-source publisher ]u[ Ubiquity Press.  Since its initial launch 40 years ago, PME has sought to adapt itself to its ever-changing environment, including switching from Dutch-language to English and becoming open access in 2012. It has fast become a top journal in its field, receiving 941 submissions in 2021 alone, with a 2022 impact factor of 4.113 and a five year impact factor of 4.086.  Dr. Erik Driessen and Lauren Maggio, editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief of PME, explain : “our editorial team decided in 2022 that moving the journal to a fully open access publisher was necessary in order to ensure the journal remained aligned with our core beliefs and values, including transparency and openness. Moving to ]u[ Ubiquity Press has not only ensured this, but has allowed PME to make space for more publications.” ”

Strengthening open access publishing in Kenya | EIFL

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“A project supported by EIFL has strengthened understanding of open access publishing at 46 institutions in Kenya. It has led to increased open access journal publishing capacity and gained greater recognition for open access publishing at institutions across the country. The project raised the importance of meeting open access journal quality requirements developed by the Directory of Open Access Journals.

The project was implemented by our partner library consortium, the Kenya Library and Information Services Consortium (KLISC), which worked with institutions that wanted to publish their print journals online in open access. The project set up Open Journal Systems (OJS) publishing platforms at 17 institutions.

Some of the participating institutions have already published the current issues of their journals in open access using OJS, such as  the African Journal of Science, Technology and Social Sciences published by Meru University, and the International Research Journal of Rongo University (IJORU). Strathmore University has moved three journals online, and Kirinyaga university has moved two journals online.  The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has uploaded not only current, but also back issues of the African Journal of Alcohol and Drug Abuse (AJADA)  on their OJS platform….”

Strengthening open access publishing in Kenya | EIFL

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“A project supported by EIFL has strengthened understanding of open access publishing at 46 institutions in Kenya. It has led to increased open access journal publishing capacity and gained greater recognition for open access publishing at institutions across the country. The project raised the importance of meeting open access journal quality requirements developed by the Directory of Open Access Journals.

The project was implemented by our partner library consortium, the Kenya Library and Information Services Consortium (KLISC), which worked with institutions that wanted to publish their print journals online in open access. The project set up Open Journal Systems (OJS) publishing platforms at 17 institutions.

Some of the participating institutions have already published the current issues of their journals in open access using OJS, such as  the African Journal of Science, Technology and Social Sciences published by Meru University, and the International Research Journal of Rongo University (IJORU). Strathmore University has moved three journals online, and Kirinyaga university has moved two journals online.  The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has uploaded not only current, but also back issues of the African Journal of Alcohol and Drug Abuse (AJADA)  on their OJS platform….”

Guest Post – Scholarly Publishing as a Global Endeavor: Leveraging Open Source Software for Bibliodiversity – The Scholarly Kitchen

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“The scale of the adoption of PKP’s open source publishing software around the world may be surprising, but the numbers should be a cause of celebration, for they are a demonstrable improvement in global knowledge exchange. They reflect an increase in engagement, participation, and diversity of contribution to the global scholarly knowledgebase, in origin, language, purpose, and the generation of research and data to find solutions to local and global issues from a new perspective and through a different lens….”

Beyond Web of Science and Scopus there is already an open bibliodiverse world of research – We ignore it at our peril | Impact of Social Sciences

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“This analysis of the geographic, linguistic, and disciplinary dimensions of these journals speaks to how recent calls for greater bibliodiversity in the research literature can be met through the existing literature. The challenge, however, is with the underrepresentation of this literature in leading indexes, such as the Web of Science, where less than 2% of these journals are indexed, and Scopus, where less than 8% are included. It is not that this literature is invisible, as 88% of it is found in Google Scholar due to its deliberate efforts to be globally inclusive. And it is not that this literature is, as many assume, “predatory,” as less than 2% of these journals are found on the prominent, if questionable, lists associated with Beall and Cabells. Rather, this robust body of work represents an example and an opportunity to realise the ambitious decolonizing agenda of knowledge redistribution called for by the philosopher Achille Mbembe.

All told, this body of journals demonstrate that research is far more of a global and diverse enterprise than is commonly credited or indexed. Studies, such as this one, can assist and encourage researchers to consult the full breadth of the literature that bears on their work. Our hope is, as well, that this work will also help us reflect on whose knowledge guides our understanding of the world.”

Recalibrating the scope of scholarly publishing: A modest step in a vast decolonization process | Quantitative Science Studies | MIT Press

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Abstract:  By analyzing 25,671 journals largely absent from common journal counts, as well as Web of Science and Scopus, this study demonstrates that scholarly communication is more of a global endeavor than is commonly credited. These journals, employing the open-source publishing platform Open Journal Systems (OJS), have published 5.8 million items; they are in 136 countries, with 79.9% in the Global South and 84.2% following the OA diamond model (charging neither reader nor author). A substantial proportion of journals operate in more than one language (48.3%), with research published in 60 languages (led by English, Indonesian, Spanish, and Portuguese). The journals are distributed across the social sciences (45.9%), STEM (40.3%), and the humanities (13.8%). For all their geographic, linguistic, and disciplinary diversity, 1.2% are indexed in the Web of Science and 5.7% in Scopus. On the other hand, 1.0% are found in Cabell’s Predatory Reports, and 1.4% show up in Beall’s (2021) questionable list. This paper seeks to both contribute to and historically situate the expanded scale and diversity of scholarly publishing in the hope that this recognition may assist humankind in taking full advantage of what is increasingly a global research enterprise.

 

PKP’s free and open source software (FOSS) version 3.4 for OJS, OMP & OPS: A sneak-peek – Public Knowledge Project

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“PKP released development updates in December. In advance of releasing the Open Journal Systems (OJS), Open Monograph Press (OMP), and Open Preprint Systems (OPS) software in version 3.4 this year, the PKP team offers a sneak-peek of what to expect, why they are most excited for the community, and some personal insights from their own work on the Project….”

Enriching the scholarly metadata commons with citation metadata and spatio-temporal metadata to support responsible research assessment and research discovery

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Abstract:  In this article, we focus on the importance of open research information as the foundation for transparent and responsible research assessment and discovery of research outputs. We introduce work in which we support the open research information commons by enabling, in particular, independent and small Open Access journals to provide metadata to several open data hubs (Open Citations, Wikidata, Open Research Knowledge Graph). In this context, we present The OPTIMETA Way, a means to integrate metadata collection, enrichment, and distribution in an effective and quality-ensured way that enables uptake even amongst small scholar-led publication venues. We have designed an implementation strategy for this approach in the form of two plugins for the most widely used journal publishing software, Open Journal Systems (OJS). These plugins collect, enrich, and automatically deliver citation metadata and spatio-temporal metadata for articles. Our contribution to research assessment and discovery with linked open bibliographic data is threefold. First, we enlarge the open research information data pool by advocating for the collection of enriched, user-validated metadata at the time of publication through open APIs. Second, we integrate data platforms and journals currently not included in the standard scientometric practices because of their language or lack of support from big publishing houses. Third, we allow new use cases based on location and temporal metadata that go beyond commonly used discovery features, specifically, the assessment of research activities using spatial coverage and new transdisciplinary connections between research outputs.

 

Recalibrating the Scope of Scholarly Publishing: A Modest Step in a Vast Decolonization Process | Quantitative Science Studies | MIT Press

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Abstract:  By analyzing 25,671 journals largely absent from common journal counts, as well as Web of Science and Scopus, this study demonstrates that scholarly communication is more of a global endeavor than is commonly credited. These journals, employing the open source publishing platform Open Journal Systems (OJS), have published 5.8 million items; they are in 136 countries, with 79.9% in the Global South and 84.2% following the OA diamond model (charging neither reader nor author). A substantial proportion of journals operate in more than one language (48.3%), with research published in a total of 60 languages (led by English, Indonesian, Spanish, and Portuguese). The journals are distributed across the social sciences (45.9%), STEM (40.3%), and the humanities (13.8%). For all their geographic, linguistic, and disciplinary diversity, 1.2% are indexed in the Web of Science and 5.7% in Scopus. On the other hand, 1.0% are found in Cabells Predatory Reports, while 1.4% show up in Beall’s questionable list. This paper seeks to both contribute and historically situate expanded scale and diversity of scholarly publishing in the hope that this recognition may assist humankind in taking full advantage of what is increasingly a global research enterprise.

 

Job: Software Developer (PHP). End of play: Dec 12, 2022 | tsv.fi

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The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies is looking to employ a Software Developer (PHP) to work in a three-year EU-funded project starting from February 1, 2023 or on agreement.

We are looking to employ a Software Developer to work on a PHP-based open source publishing system. The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies maintains nationally significant services for open publishing in Finland.

You will participate in an international EU-funded project which aims to advance the European infrastructure for open access publishing. Besides the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, the project includes around twenty other European organizations. You will take part in developing a platform called Open Journal Systems intended for managing and publishing scholarly journals and will work with other project partners and the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), which leads the developer community of the system.

Tasks include:

Designing, documenting and developing new features for Open Journal Systems based on the goals set in the project
Presenting the results of the work in project meetings
Collaborating with the project partners and the developer community

Requirements:

University degree in computer science or other related field
Very good knowledge of PHP and relational databases
Knowledge of HTML, CSS and Javascript
Experience in maintenance of web applications
Good knowledge of English
Ability to work responsibly in a team and independently

Desirable:

Experience in software development projects and international projects
Familiar with Laravel, Vue.js, XML, Git and Github
Knowledge of scientific publishing and software used for scientific publishing, especially Open Journal Systems
Knowledge of Finnish (not required)

The position is for a fixed-term of three years starting from February 1, 2023 or on agreement. The probationary period is 6 months. The office of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies is located at Kirkkokatu 6, 00170 Helsinki, Finland. We also offer flexible options for remote work.

The salary, based on the general collective agreement for the private teaching sector in Finland, is 3800–4000 €/month, depending on  how the requirements for the position are met.

 

The PDF is not enough: why science needs open formats – University Library

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“In the project period from 2019 to 2021 , the project bundled modern publishing as part of the Hamburg Open Science (HOS) initiativeMany years of experience at the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and the Hamburg State and University Library (SUB). The goal: The development of a socio-technical system for single source publishing, i.e. for generating different output formats from one source format. It was based on open source solutions such as GitLab and Open Journal Systems (OJS) to enable an open alternative approach to the publication of scientific results compared to commercial and proprietary publishing offers….

Former team members of the project have created the Single Source Publishing Community (SSPC)founded. This focuses on scientific writing and publishing with open tools and formats and is a meeting point for researchers, lecturers, publishers and developers. Under the motto “Collaborate more, compete less”, the active members of the community exchange ideas in their monthly meetingson current developments in their projects and discuss strategies for cultural change in the field of scientific publication….

Numerous open-source tools favor the desired sovereignty: software projects such as Open Journal Systems, Viviliostyle, Paged.js, Swapfire , FidusWriter, HedgeDoc, quartoand last but not least pandocare combined in different ways in the community projects to create alternative open systems.

Many projects use the Markdown format as a source, to generate complementary versions of PDF in the form of HTML, JATS/XMLand create EPUB. The latter offer the advantage that they retain the semantic labeling of the information they contain and thus open up a wide range of possible applications in automated text mining processes. At the same time, the usability and reach of published scientific findings increases….”

Bringing efficiencies to tens of thousands of journals: The role of Open Source | PUBMET

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Abstract:  In addition to the growing number of scholarly journals published by the so-called “big five”, there are tens of thousands of journals that are published by individual scholars or by academic institutions. These smaller operations are a source of great bibliodiversity that deserves to be encouraged but can also be seen as inefficiencies in the system as a whole. The use of a common software—Open Journal Systems (OJS)—is helping these journals take advantage of an economy of scale without needing to centralize or homogenize them. The key to promoting both efficiency and bibliodiversity is in OJS’s open source nature. This presentation will describe the ways in which PKP’s open source software is bringing efficacy to journal operations, to the discovery of their content, and, in the best of cases, to supporting a transformation of the system as a whole.

 

Recalibrating the Scope of Scholarly Publishing: A Modest Step in a Vast Decolonization Process | SciELO Preprints

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Khanna , S., Ball, J., Alperin, J. P., & Willinsky, J. (2022). Recalibrating the Scope of Scholarly Publishing: A Modest Step in a Vast Decolonization Process. In SciELO Preprints. https://doi.org/10.1590/SciELOPreprints.4729

Abstract: By analyzing 25,671 journals largely absent from journal counts and indexes, this study demonstrates that scholarly communication is more of a global endeavor than is commonly credited. These journals, employing the open source publishing platform Open Journal Systems (OJS), have published 5.8 million items and represent 136 countries, with 79.9 percent publishing in the Global South and 84.2 percent following the OA diamond model (charging neither reader nor author). More than half (54.6 percent) of the journals operate in more than one language, while publishing research in 60 languages (led by English, Indonesian, Spanish, and Portuguese). The journals are distributed across the social sciences (45.9 percent), STEM (40.3 percent), and the humanities (13.8 percent). For all their geographic, linguistic, and disciplinary diversity, the Web of Science indexes 1.2 percent of the journals and Scopus 5.7 percent. On the other hand, Cabells Predatory Reports includes 1.0 percent of the journals, while Beall lists 1.4 percent of them as predatory. A recognition of the expanded scope and scale of scholarly publishing will help ensure that humankind takes full advantage of what is increasingly a global research enterprise.

 

Guide to Plan S compliance in OJS

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“For cOAlition S funded research covered by Plan S requirements, all peer-reviewed scholarly articles must be published in venues that fulfil the “Requirements for Publication Venues.” Individual publication venues (such as journals publishing on OJS) are responsible for ensuring that they meet these requirements. Journals that do not meet these requirements will not be suitable for scholarly articles resulting from cOAlition S-funded research.

Many of the Plan S requirements for publication venues represent best practices for quality, discoverability, and interoperability in scholarly publishing. We recommend that journals adopt these practices regardless of whether they intend to publish scholarly articles resulting from Coalition S-funded research….

This guide is intended for journals published on OJS which intend to meet the Requirements for Publication Venues articulated by Plan S under Part III: Technical Guidance and Requirements. This guide is modelled around the Plan S requirements, with sections of this guide mirroring the sections (1.1 and 1.2) of the Plan S requirements. The guide provides specific recommendations for implementing the requirements in OJS. Where suitable we have linked to other PKP documentation and guidance which provides additional details on the implementation of specific features and specifications.

While we will do our best to keep this guide up-to-date, the Plan S documentation should be relied upon for the most current and detailed information….”