On Thursday August 31, the Netherlands Open Science Festival was held at the Erasmus University. Many new open science initiatives in the Netherlands were presented and discussed, including innovations in scholarly communication. Openjournals attended the festival and presented itself in the marketplace. There is a lot of interest in the diamond open access publishing model, as adopted by all journals on Openjournals. We were delighted to show thirty journals are now edited, hosted and read on our platform in this modern way.
The international organisation Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) supports and educates editors, publishers, universities and scientific institutions on all aspects of publishing ethics. COPE runs a website with a lot of information on how to deal with, for example, plagiarism, authorship disputes or scientific fraud. The website contains flow charts that show step by step how to deal with suspected misbehavior correctly. Numerous cases are described and clearly substantiated recommendations are given. Besides being instructive, the website is also entertaining because it regularly raises interesting questions around scientific publishing. For journal editors a very valuable website and definitely worth checking out.
On Thursday, June 8, the first Openjournals User Day was held. Representatives from editorial boards and university publishing houses met at the Spinhuis in Amsterdam. The morning was devoted to the OJS software, used by editors to edit and publish their journals on Openjournals. The Openjournals team could dive into frequently asked questions and editors could educate each other by sharing experiences.
The afternoon was spent discussing various issues involved in publishing a journal, such as increasing the visibility of a journal in order to attract new authors, typesetting articles, publishing themed issues or finding funds to support a journal. The group also discussed additional services Openjournals could provide in the future and additional needs journals have, such as enriched publishing and how to get covered by indexing services. Finally, the group explored opportunities for editorial boards to collaborate.
It was an useful and fun day, also due to the diversity of journals, new and established journals from all kinds of scientific disciplines. From now on, a User Day will be organized every year and furthermore online meetings will be organized around specific topics.
The journal Historical Life Course Studies (HLCS) has recently been accepted into Scopus. This means that users of Scopus, a widely used abstract & citation database of scholarly literature, will now find articles from HLCS. HLCS is available on openjournals since 2021. Openjournals works with journals to verify they meet the criteria of these types of databases and directories and assists with the application process. Scientists use these databases/directories to search for and find articles or do a literature search about a particular topic. The eligibility criteria of Scopus are strict and therefore admission is a recognition of the quality of HLCS.
The Tijdschrift voor Hoger Onderwijs (“Journal for Higher Education”, TvHO) can now be read at openjournals. TvHO publishes research on current developments and themes in higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders. Evidence-based, but with a clear link to the policy and practice of higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders. TvHO accepts two types of articles: evidence-based articles and opinion articles with a solid empirical foundation. TvHO wants to have an impact on higher education policy and practice.
The yearbook of the Social Historical Centre for Limburg (SHCL) is now available open access via openjournals.nl.
Since 1955, the SHCL has published this yearbook under the title “Studies on the socio-economic history of Limburg”. The yearbook contains scholarly articles on the history of Limburg in connection with the surrounding areas in Belgium and Germany. The position of Limburg as a border region is a central theme. The main focus is on socio-economic and socio-cultural developments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but also contributions on earlier periods are included. All yearbooks since 1955 have now been digitised and can be read via openjournals.
Amsterdam, March 2023 – Funding for the continued development of openjournals is in place. At the end of 2022, openjournals shared its plans for the coming years with representatives of the main Dutch scientific organizations. They support the direction openjournals wants to take. Read the whole article here.
The Journal for the History of Knowledge features an annual special issue, compiled by guest editors, which explores a theme central to the journal’s scope. The proposal deadline is 1 May 2023. You will receive a notification of acceptance by 30 June 2023. More information can be found here.
The journal Technophany aims to facilitate original reflections and provocations on the philosophy and history of technology, and contribute to the reshaping of the contemporary landscape of thought. Technophany is a journal of the Research Network for Philosophy and Technology, dedicated to the philosophical and historical studies of technologies. From now on, Technophany will be published by Radboud University Press and hosted on openjournals.
The journal Jeugd in Ontwikkeling has won the first Open Science Awards (OSCAwards) in the Open Access category! The OSCAwards were organised for the first time this year, initiated by the Open Science Community Amsterdam (OSCA). OSCA is a partnership between the University of Amsterdam, the vA, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Student Initiative for Open Science (SIOS).
OSCA is part of the larger Open Science Community Network Netherlands (OSC-NL). The goal of the Open Science Communities is to create a platform for researchers and students from all faculties to interact and learn from each other about Open Science practices.
On 26 January, the OSCAwards were celebrated in Spui25. Several scientists, researchers, students and teachers presented about their projects and involvement in Open Science. Click here for more information.
The Journal of Youth Health Care (Tijdschrift voor Jeugdgezondheidszorg) is now published at openjournals. The journal was previously published by Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum. TJGZ is a Dutch-language, open access, scientific journal in the field of youth health care. TJGZ enables youth doctors, youth nurses, paediatricians, researchers, epidemiologists, social physicians and all those working in youth health care to report on interesting topics. The journal helps professionals working in this field to keep abreast of important practical experiences, research findings and related topics relevant to the preventive care of children and adolescents aged 0-23.
The Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics (DuJAL) has been around for a long time. But editor-in-chief Sible Andringa thinks the journal has become more attractive to authors since the switch to openjournals, and he explains why they quit the traditional publisher. Read the whole interview here.
In 2003, the magazine of the Dutch League against Epilepsy (the League) got a new look and a new name. Almost 20 years later, the formula is still the same, but now Epilepsy is published in open access. Editor-in-chief Pauly Ossenblok: ‘We are working to optimise the use of the OpenJournals.nl platform, with an editing and review process that takes less time and is of high quality. We foresee a much wider reach, with contributions by authors from the Dutch-speaking world and an expanded readership, including outside the direct epilepsy care sector.’ Read the whole interview here.
David van der Linden is editor-in-chief of Early Modern Low Countries and he explains how this journal enables young researchers to publish open access. ‘When we founded EMLC, it was a very conscious decision to make it available as diamond open access.’ Read the interview here.
The journal Technology and Regulation (TechReg) has been registered in the Directory of Open Access Journals. This means the journal meets DOAJ’s strict requirements and quality criteria. TechReg is an international journal of law, technology and society, with an interdisciplinary identity. It provides an online platform for disseminating original research on the legal and regulatory challenges posed by existing and emerging technologies (and their applications). TechReg is published in collaboration with Open Press TiU.
The second Dutch edition of the Open Science Festival was held on 1 September, at the Vrije Universiteit. Openjournals attended and presented a workshop on diamond open access publishing in cooperation with Radboud University Press and TU Delft Open Publishing. The Open Science Festival provided an opportunity to learn about the many aspects of open science and the numerous initiatives in this field. The large turnout and participation of minister Robbert Dijkgraaf clearly showed the broad enthusiasm for open science in the Netherlands.
We are delighted to present a new journal on openjournals: Passion: Journal of the European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotion is the bi-annual journal of the European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotion (EPSSE). It aims to bring together thoughts and ideas about affect and emotion from all areas of philosophy, such as the metaphysics, phenomenology, sociology, ethics, politics, and (cognitive) science of emotion. Passion is not limited to representing one tradition of philosophical thought. The journal welcomes papers from all philosophical traditions including (but not limited to) analytic, continental, experimental, feminist and non-Western philosophy. Although primarily philosophical, Passion will also publish high-quality interdisciplinary work on emotions and related topics. The journal will also regularly publish special issues on various emotion-related themes.
The journal Aesthetic Investigations is now available on openjournals.nl. The journal is published on behalf of the Dutch Association of Aesthetics. The aim of this journal is to develop contemporary debates in the philosophy of aesthetics, and initiate new ones—and to do this from any available angle. Aesthetic Investigations is open to any contributions, but to generate new discussions the journal also issues specific calls. The journal started publication in 2015 and earlier volumes are also available on openjournals.
The openjournals team participated in the PKP Sprint 2022 in Helsinki on 15 and 16 June. PKP (Public Knowledge Project) is the organisation that develops the open source software for the Open Journals Systems (OJS). This software is used by the openjournals platforms and by more than 25,000 scientific journals worldwide.
During a sprint, developers and users come together to discuss a number of problems or wishes and devise and develop a solution on the spot. In addition, this sprint was an opportunity to exchange experiences with representatives of other national platforms or journal editors. More and more universities and other scientific organisations are taking the publication process into their own hands in order to contribute to open science.
On 3 June, the new journal Tijdschrift voor Onderwijspraktijkstudies (TOPS) was launched during a festive online meeting. TOPS publishes articles for anyone with an interest in practice-based research and its added value for educational practice. TOPS focuses on reaching educational researchers, current and future teachers and school leaders, administrators, teacher trainers and policymakers. Articles in TOPS are aimed at all sectors of (special) education, primary and secondary schools, vocational schools, universities of applied sciences and higher education.
The “Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics” has been accepted for registration by the “Directory of Open Access Journals” (https://doaj.org). DOAJ’s mission is to increase the visibility, accessibility, reputation, usage and impact of quality, peer-reviewed, open access scholarly research journals. DOAJ registration is regarded as an important and widely accepted quality stamp and therefore this (future) registration is a requirement for journals hosted on openjournals. The DOAJ website contains a detailed list of criteria for inclusion of journals.
The journal Ecclesial Futures is available at openjournals since May 12 2022. This journal publishes research and theological reflections on development and change in local Christian communities and the systems that support them. Ecclesial Futures is an international and ecumenical journal that takes an interdisciplinary approach to theological research and reflections. The journal was previously published by Wipf and Stock Publishers and those volumes are now also available via openjournals.
It is possible to bundle selected articles as a special collection (or special issue). For example, articles that deal with the same subject, but which were published in different issues. Or articles that are all linked to a conference. A number of journals on openjournals make use of these possibilities, such as Historical Life Course Studies, LIBER Quarterly and Journal for the History of Knowledge. Should you be interested to use this feature for your journal, do not hesitate to contact the open journals team.
The journal Handelingen has recently joined the openjournals platform. Handelingen makes a valuable contribution to the professional practice of pastors, spiritual counsellors and other academics who wish to deepen their reflection on the religious and philosophical aspects of their own professional practice. The journal has existed for about 50 years and until now had limited online access. The journal is now published by Radboud University Press as a diamond open access publication, via the openjournals platform.
It is important for academic journals to reach an interested audience. In that process, indexing services such as Web-of-Science (Clarivate) and Scopus (Elsevier) play an important role. These services use sophisticated search engines to present readers papers of interest. Sometimes journals have to apply for inclusion in their databases. Moreover, some services apply stringent criteria and a lengthy review process. Openjournals can assist in starting this application process.
Het Tijdschrift voor Gerontologie en Geriatrie (TGG) is a Dutch-language, open-access scientific journal for anyone interested in the biological, psychological, social and medical scientific fields of gerontology and geriatrics. TGG offers the opportunity for (applied) scientists and trained professionals to publish in a Medline indexed and PubMed listed journal at no cost.
International Journal about Parents in Education (IJPE) is the official journal of European Research Network about parents in Education (ERNAPE). The publications of IJPE contain peer-reviewed articles on several topics within the general field of “Parents in Education”. The articles contained in International Journal About Parents in Education follow the style and formats of a scientific journal.
The European Insolvency and Restructuring Journal is a fully open access and double-blind peer reviewed journal focused on the development of insolvency and restructuring laws and practice in Europe.
The European Insolvency and Restructuring Journal (EIRJ) aims to provide a solid and authoritative forum for in-depth (comparative and empirical) articles on topics that are of relevance to the development of insolvency and restructuring laws and practice in Europe. It aims to promote academic discussion which crosses national boundaries, mainly in the field of European preventive restructuring and corporate insolvency law.
The Journal of Political Sociology (JPS) opens a forum to discuss ‘the political’ of societal change. JPS goes beyond a narrow understanding of political sociology to study state organizations, public policy, and much more: articles investigate political processes in art, economics, education, ecology, science, technology, religion, public health, and identity formation. Recent frictions in these fields afford new approaches, dialogues, and methodologies in the study of politics. Engagement with inter- and transdisciplinary approaches, novel methods, and diverse publics therefore is particularly welcome. JPS is committed to empirical inquiry, theoretical reflection and critical debate.
Into the Magic Circle (IMC) is an online, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal on the cultural and social theory of the play-element of society, politics, culture, arts, and everyday life. The journal welcomes all relevant approaches of the social sciences and humanities domain (SSH) to reflect on the phenomenon and philosophy of game and the problem of play in times of modernity, and related topics. The title refers to the theory of the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, who wrote the first ground-breaking essay on the importance of game and play in every aspect of our lives.
The Tijdschrift voor Hoger Onderwijs (TvHO) devotes attention to research on current developments / themes in higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders. TvHO does so evidence-based, but with a clear link to the policy and practice of higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders. TvHO accepts 2 types of articles: evidence-based articles and opinion articles with a solid empirical foundation. The goal of TvHO is to have an impact on higher education policy and practice.
