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  • December 19, 2024

    Interview with the Editorial Team of A Game Changer in Publishing!

    Ecclesial Futures is an international, ecumenical and double-blind peer-reviewed open access journal. It publishes high-quality, original research and theological reflection on the development and transformation of local Christian communities and the systems that support them as they join in the mission of God in the world. Transitioning to Diamond Open Access has been transformative, enabling the journal to make its research freely available worldwide.

    Why collaborate with Openjournals?

    The editorial team shared their motivation for the switch: “We were stuck with a very traditional publisher who did not promote our printed journal in any way. Diamond Open Access was a game changer for us, moving us to the forefront of 21st-century publishing very quickly.” The collaboration with Openjournals has been especially valuable due to the innovative model: “The partnership between Openjournals and Radboud UP allows us to publish at no cost, as long as we provide editorial and peer-review services for free.”

    The Importance of Open Science and Open Access

    The team highlights the critical role of Open Access in their field: “As an international journal, it’s essential that our research is accessible to regions where subscription costs are a barrier. Open Access overcomes this entirely.”
    They also point out the benefits for inclusivity: “It ensures that research can be accessed by anyone with a computer and an internet connection, no matter their financial resources.”

    Experiences with the Openjournals platform

    The editorial team describes their experience with the Openjournals platform as positive. One feature they find particularly useful is the ease of editing website content: “This saves us a lot of back-and-forth with publishers or web developers.”

  • December 12, 2024

    Press release: Dutch academic organizations will jointly support the development of the Openjournals platform as a national infrastructure for Diamond Open Access publishing of scholarly articles

    Amsterdam, 12 December

    A consortium of national academic organizations signed a Memorandum-of-Understanding late November to support the national Diamond Open Access platform Openjournals. The consortium consists of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the KNAW Humanities Cluster (KNAW-HuC), the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), the University Libraries and National Library (UKB), and the National Library of the Netherlands (KB).

    These organizations have an important role in the creation, use, dissemination and archiving of scientific information. Therefore, they support a national infrastructure for publishing scholarly journals, which follow a Diamond Open Access publishing model. Openjournals operates as a national service and therefore the partners have agreed to make a joint commitment to the further development and continued existence of the Openjournals platform.

    As a consortium, they take responsibility for the organization and funding of the Openjournals platform in the coming years, and together they will shape a sustainable organization and funding of the platform from 2028 onwards.

    For publishing Diamond Open Access journals, both authors and readers pay no fees. Articles are made available to everyone free of charge, without subscription fees (as with traditional publishing) or publication fees for authors (as with Gold Open Access). In this way, scientific publications become widely accessible to all, without financial barriers.

    Openjournals is a national platform for publishing scholarly Diamond Open Access journals. Openjournals is used by university publishers, research institutes and learned societies to publish their own scientific journals according to Open Science principles. Openjournals launched in 2021 and currently hosts nearly 40 scientific journals. Hosted by the KNAW Humanities Cluster, Openjournals is funded until 2027 by NWO, several universities and participating journals.

  • December 11, 2024

    Humanimalia accepted by Scopus

    The journal Humanimalia has been accepted by Scopus for coverage. According to the Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board, Humanimalia is a well-organised journal which attracts numerous citations, underlining its significance in the scholarly field. Congratulations to the editorial team for receiving this important recognition of quality.

    Humanimalia is a biannual journal devoted to the study of human–animal relations. It is interdisciplinary, diamond open-access, and peer-reviewed, publishing original articles from a wide range of cultural, historical, philosophical, political, and aesthetic perspectives on human-animal relations. The journal was launched in 2009 and is currently edited by Kári Driscoll (University of Utrecht). Humanimalia’s latest issue was devoted to “Life with and without Animals”.

  • December 5, 2024

    Interview met de redactie van Historical Life Course Studies: Toonaangevend in historische demografie!

    Historical Life Course Studies is een tijdschrift dat onderzoek publiceert in het veld van historische demografie, een interdisciplinair onderzoeksveld dat theorieën en methodes combineert uit disciplines zoals geschiedenis, demografie, sociologie en epidemiologie. De redactie benadrukt het belang van inclusiviteit en toegankelijkheid: “Het doel van het tijdschrift is om hoogwaardig onderzoek te publiceren in Diamond Open Access.”

    Waarom samenwerken met Openjournals.nl?

    “De redactie heeft gekozen voor Openjournals vanwege de infrastructuur en ondersteuning die Openjournals biedt. Er was een goede match tussen de doelstellingen van het platform en die van de redactie, zoals publicatie via Diamond Open Access. Ook was het belangrijk dat we konden samenwerken met een gerenommeerde institutie zoals de KNAW.”

    Ervaring met het Openjournals-platform

    Over de samenwerking met Openjournals en het gebruik van de OJS-software is de redactie positief: “Het platform heeft ons meer overzicht gegeven in het reviewproces en zorgt voor een goede en duidelijke archivering. Dat maakt het werk veel gestroomlijnder, het is fijn dat er ruimte is om af te wijken van de structuur als de praktijk daarom vraagt.”

    Impact en toekomst

    De redactie denkt dat de zichtbaarheid van het tijdschrift is vergroot sinds de overstap naar Openjournals: “Hoewel dit moeilijk precies vast te stellen is, merken we dat de duurzame online-archivering veel beter is dan op onze vorige website.”
    Voor de toekomst heeft de redactie grote ambities: “We hopen ons in de komende jaren verder te ontwikkelen als leidend tijdschrift in het veld van historische demografie.”

    De redactie benadrukt hoe prettig de samenwerking met Openjournals is verlopen: “We zijn dankbaar voor de ondersteuning bij bijvoorbeeld indexeringskwesties en waarderen de Openjournals-gebruikersdagen.”

    Wil je meer weten of bijdragen aan het tijdschrift? Bezoek de website en ontdek meer over Historical Life Course Studies!

  • May 27, 2024

    OJS version 3.4 upgrade for Openjournals

    Since Monday 27 May, Openjournals has received a new update. The Open Journals Software is now running on version 3.4. With this, users now have access to a number of useful new features.

    Openjournals uses Open Journal Systems (OJS) software, developed by the international Public Knowledge Project community, with institutional support from Simon Fraser University in Canada). PKP works steadily to further develop OJS and releases upgrades on a regular basis. The Openjournals team has prepared the upgrade to OJS 3.4 by trying out the new version in a test environment and detecting and updating bugs.

    The 3.4 update includes new features and improvements aimed at streamlining the editorial process, improving the user experience and increasing overall efficiency for journal managers and administrators. From a revamped interface to notify authors of editorial decision-making to a centralised DOI management system, OJS 3.4 offers a range of tools designed to make scholarly publishing more intuitive. The main enhancements to this version are:

    • New interface for e-mails about editorial decisions, allowing editors to choose from multiple templates. For example, since a regular issue and a themed issue have different lead times, it is now possible to set a default e-mail for both situations.
    • A new contribution submission user interface that helps authors upload their files. Entering keywords and adding other contributors to the contribution have also been simplified.
    • Improved user statistics in compliance with legal GDPR rules.
    • A thorough revision of DOI management and a dedicated DOI management page, making DOI registration now a fully automated process.
    • Better support for HTML in titles.
    • Easier invitation of new reviewers already registered with other journals.
    • Error messages in OJS have been made much clearer, now better specifying what the problem is and where missing information needs to be filled in.
  • May 22, 2024

    HTML format enriches BMGN articles

    OpenJournals, in collaboration with the journal BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review, has developed a new HTML format to enrich articles with additional information. Thanks to this HTML format, the BMGN website offers a comprehensive explanation of digital research methods, and better visualisation of the results in the article. With the release of the BMGN issue Volume 139-1, an article in this new HTML format appears on BMGN.nl for the first time.

    For example, it is possible to link additional information to certain words in the text and highlight those words with a colour. When you click on that, the extra information appears in a box in the margin. That text block can then also be enlarged to make reading easier. It is also possible to apply and add all Plotly’s graphs to articles. Plotly is an open-source module used to create data visualisations.

    In the coming period, the Openjournals team will further develop the format and method. After that, other journals could also make use of this feature.

    See the enhanced article in the latest BMGN-Low Countries Historical Review here.

  • March 6, 2024

    Sustainability Letters new at OJ

    Sustainability Letters is a pioneering open-access, short letters-type journal dedicated exclusively to advancing the discourse on sustainability within the management sciences.

    The journal provides a dynamic platform for concise and impactful papers, encouraging scholars, researchers, and practitioners to share innovative ideas, methodologies, and findings that promote sustainable practices in various organizational contexts.

    The journal fully embraces the philosophy of open science and publishes all articles open access free of charge. It features collections of short papers that are processed with an expedited review cycle and that are published on a rolling basis. Sustainability Letters is edited by Dr. Alexander Henkel, Dr. Wim Lambrechts and Dr. Frank Hubers, all affiliated with the Open University.

  • February 14, 2024

    Highlights 2023 Openjournals

    As the new year begins, it is good to look back to 2023 and summarise the key developments at Openjournals. Openjournals is doing well. The number of participating journals is growing and there is a clear path for the future. To read more click on this link.

  • The Openjournals highlights 2023

    As the new year begins, let’s look back at 2023 and summarise the key developments at Openjournals. We are doing well. The number of journals on the platform is growing and there is a clear path for the future.

    Our journals

    The Openjournals platform is growing and eleven new journals were added in 2023, bringing the total to 31 journals. The new journals are:

    • Pedagogische Studiën
    • Tijdschrift voor Gerontologie en Geriatrie
    • International Journal about Parents in Education
    • European Insolvency and Restructuring Journal
    • Journal of Political Sociology
    • Into the Magic Circle
    • Tijdschrift voor Hoger Onderwijs
    • Studies over de sociaaleconomische geschiedenis van Limburg
    • Technophany
    • JGZ: Tijdschrift voor Jeugdgezondheidszorg
    • Passion

    Together, all journals on the platform published 719 articles in 2023. By comparison, 369 articles were published on Openjournals in 2022.

    Keep an eye on the website! We expect to add a few more journals to Openjournals in the coming months. Of course, we will keep you posted via our social media channels and our newsletter.

    Follow-up grant Openjournals 2023-2028

    Let’s start with the most important news of 2023. Openjournals has received a follow-up grant, from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science’s innovation funds. This grant will support further development of the platform in 2023-2028. More journals will be hosted and more functionalities will be added to the platform. Furthermore, we intend to promote collaboration between journals and will strengthen collaboration with other European diamond open-access journal platforms. Finally, we will work on the future organisation and further integration of the platform into the Dutch academic infrastructure. More on that later.

    Openjournals User Day

    On Thursday 8 June, journal editors and university publishers were guests at our first Openjournals User Day. The morning was dedicated to tips and tricks for working with OJS, a Q&A and sharing best practices. In the afternoon, we discussed all kinds of issues involved in publishing a journal, such as increasing the visibility of a journal, typesetting of articles or attracting funds to support journals. Finally, we discussed possible additional services to be provided by Openjournals and possible cooperation between journals.

    Publicity and networking

    Although we are doing well, it is still important to promote Openjournals. Therefore, on 31 August, we attended the annual Open Science Festival, this year at the Erasmus University and provided information. In addition, we gave presentations about Openjournals, both offline and online. At Utrecht University, Erasmus University, and several times at webinars on national open science infrastructures.

    Our platform uses Open Journals Software (OJS), developed by Public Knowledge Project (PKP). PKP regularly organises so-called sprints, and OJS users come together to work on improving the software and share experiences. This year, the sprint was organised in Copenhagen. It was very instructive to interact with other major national diamond open-access platforms from, for example from Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.

    In the Netherlands, several universities have their own publishing houses. These so-called New University Presses (NUPs) aim to publish all publications diamond open access. These NUPs are in Groningen, Delft, Nijmegen and Tilburg. Maastricht is starting a NUP soon. There are joint meetings , in which Openjournals also participates. These meetings aim to strengthen collaboration and develop joint initiatives, such as setting up a joint catalog.

    DOAJ and indexing services

    Journals appearing on Openjournals must meet or work towards the quality criteria of the Directory of Open Access Journals. Seventeen journals on Openjournals have now been accepted by DOAJ. We help the other journals to also meet the requirements and we handle the application with DOAJ. Furthermore, we assist journals to apply for indexation with Scopus or Web-of-Science. Recently the journal Historical Life Course Studies was accepted for indexation by Scopus, thanks to an application by Openjournals. Editors who would like help with this process can contact us.

    Governance

    In 2023, we launched a series of meetings with the main national science organisations to discuss the development and organisation of Openjournals. The KNAW, NWO, UNL, UKB and KB will jointly support Openjournals and its position within the academic field. Openjournals was initiated as a project but in the coming years it will develop to become a permanent part of the Dutch academic infrastructure. We regularly consult with these organisations to ensure that Openjournals aligns with their ambitions and plans concerning Open Science.

    Open Science NL

    The plans for Open Science in the Netherlands are ambitious and these are directed by the Regieorgaan Open Science NL. In the next ten years, the Regieorgaan will make grants available to develop a national open scholarly communications infrastructure. These plans specifically mention Openjournals as a successful example of such a national infrastructure. We expect to further develop Openjournals with the help of the Open Science NL program, in collaboration with university publishers and other scholarly organisations.

    What to expect in 2024?

    The number of journals on the Openjournals platform is expected to grow to more than 40. In 2024, all journal websites will be thoroughly reviewed and we will offer editors suggestions for improving their websites. The Openjournals website itself will also be revamped. Furthermore, we will organise webinars and meetings with editors more frequently.

    An upgrade of the OJS software will take place in early 2024, to the higher 3.4 version. The main improvements are a revamped user interface, more peer review functionality, greater security and stability, and more possibilities in terms of user statistics. We will let editors know in time when the upgrade will be implemented and consequences for editors.

    Finally, we expect the Open Science NL program will offer many opportunities for further expansion of Openjournals and new opportunities for cooperation with other organisations committed to Open Science in the Netherlands.

  • October 25, 2023

    Humanimalia accepted for inclusion in DOAJ

    The journal Humanimalia has been accepted for inclusion in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The DOAJ checks if journals meet generally accepted quality criteria for scholarly publications and are truly fully open access. DOAJ is considered the main seal of approval for open access journals.

    Humanimalia is dedicated to the study of human-animal relationships. It is interdisciplinary and publishes original articles with a cultural, historical, philosophical, political or aesthetic perspective. The journal has been hosted on Openjournals since 2021.

  • September 4, 2023

    Openjournals attended OSF 2023

    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.

  • July 10, 2023

    Check out: Committee on Publication Ethics

    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.

  • July 3, 2023

    A successful Openjournals User Day 2023

    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.

    Picture of editors in a conversation during the Openjournals User Day 2023.

    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.

  • May 23, 2023

    Historical Life Course Studies now indexed by Scopus

    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.

  • Tijdschrift voor Hoger Onderwijs now available at openjournals

    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.

  • March 27, 2023

    ‘Studies on the socio-economic history of Limburg’ available at openjournals

    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.

  • March 14, 2023

    Openjournals continues to grow

    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.

    Openjournals is a diamond open access platform for scientific journals, which can be used by editors to publish their journals. The platform was launched in 2021 and made possible by a start-up grant from the NWO. In addition, openjournals is also supported by a number of universities and the financial contributions of participating journals. There are now 24 journals available through openjournals and a new journal is added almost every month.

    Sustainable embedding

    There is now regular consultation with the interested organizations in order to embed openjournals sustainably in the academic Netherlands. Now that the funding is in place, openjournals will focus in the coming years on:

    • Hosting more journals
    • Expanding platform functionality
    • Expanding services to editors
    • Promoting cooperation of editorial staff
    • Collaboration with other (European) journal platforms

    Open access publishing

    Diamond open access publishing is in the spotlight and there is much support for this model that allows scholars to publish their work open access without charging Article Processing Charges. Similar national platforms exist in many countries (Finland, Denmark, Sweden, France, etc.) and more are in the pipeline.

    Openjournals is an attractive platform for existing journals eager to comply with the principles of Open Science. However, there are also many ideas for new journals. Openjournals allows future editors to shape their own wishes. The openjournals team is happy to think along to make those plans a reality.

  • Openjournals continues to grow

    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.

  • March 2, 2023

    Call for proposals for JHoK

    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.

  • February 27, 2023

    New journal: Technophany

    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.

  • February 23, 2023

    Jeugd in Ontwikkeling wins first OSCAward

    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.

  • February 7, 2023

    New journal: TJGZ

    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.

  • February 6, 2023

    DuJAL has become even more attractive

    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.

  • February 3, 2023

    ‘Open access increases our potential reach’

    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.

  • February 1, 2023

    EMLC published DOA right from the start

    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.

  • A platform for up-and-coming talent

    Interview with David van der Linden

    We invited a number of (lead) editors to tell us about their journal and why they chose to work with openjournals.nl. 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.

    Early Modern Low Countries (EMLC) is a young journal: it is founded in 2017 and is now publishing its sixth volume. Our journal focuses on the history of the Low Countries in the early modern period, roughly the period between the Renaissance and the French Revolution. EMLC primarily caters to an academic audience, and has a strong interdisciplinary character: we publish articles on history, arts, and literature. We also aim to provide a platform to young researchers and as a result PhD students and postdocs frequently publish in our journal.

    Alba amicorum

    The history of the Low Countries is a very rich research field, which also attracts great interest from abroad. In short, we publish articles on all kinds of topics, from slavery and sexuality to religious tolerance and the history of ship flags and executions. We also regularly produce themed issues on specific topics, such as the rise of newspapers and most recently on alba amicorum, a kind of early modern book of friends.
    I am very proud that EMLC has already managed to establish itself as a leading journal within early modern studies in just a few years. More and more authors know how to find us, both inside and outside the Low Countries. In the future, we hope to further expand our international profile and publish good articles on the pressing themes of our time, such as gender and environment – it is precisely the past that can hold up a mirror to us there!

    Precious cause

    Open science is definitely an important theme in our field. Nowadays, recipients of NWO grants are required to publish their results open access. EMLC was involved in the pilot to launch openjournals.nl from the start, not only because open access is really important to the editors, but also because we believe that journals are stronger if they work together. Open access is a costly business and by working together costs can be saved.

    No costs

    When we founded EMLC, it was a very conscious decision to make it available as diamond open access. We specifically wanted to offer new talent a platform to publish articles in English for an international audience. But young researchers often don’t have the financial means to make their articles available in gold open access journals – regular publishers can charge EUR 1,000 or more. By not charging authors, we still wanted to make open access publishing possible, and with success.
    Researchers are increasingly aware that their work is more widely read if it is freely accessible. At Openjournals, I can easily track the number of clicks and downloads: this shows our articles are viewed many hundreds of times. That is an absolute plus for the authors and for the field.

    Very intuitive

    The user-friendly interface and excellent support are without doubt the strongest points of Openjournals: in case of problems, an e-mail is usually enough to solve the issue. Often these are minor issues, such as an incorrectly created DOI. Most of the adjustments can easily be done by yourself in the system. Furthermore, the system allows the editor to process and publish articles intuitively. Overall, the platform is extremely user-friendly.

  • January 25, 2023

    Open science is in the interest of all professionals

    Interview with Pauly Ossenblok

    We invited a number of (lead) editors to tell us about their journals and why they chose to work with openjournal.nl. Pauly Ossenblok is editor-in-chief of Epilepsie and she expects the reach of the journal will be much wider, now that Epilepsy is published in open access.

    ‘In 2003, the magazine of the Nederlandse Liga tegen Epilepsie (Liga) was given a new look and a new name. Now almost 20 years later, the formula is still the same. Because the Netherlands is one of the few countries where the Liga also has non-medical members, the journal also pays attention to the psychosocial side of epilepsy, next to medical topics. The contributions are accessible to the large group of paramedical and other professionals involved in epilepsy. Epilepsie has a number of goals, all of which are equally important. We want to transfer information and knowledge; promote mutual contacts; stimulate scientific research; and raise awareness of responsible epilepsy care.

    ‘The authors as well as the readers are professionals working in epilepsy care. Epilepsie has an extensive editorial board, with representatives from all disciplines involved in epilepsy care. Based on the network of editorial board members, authors are approached and asked to contribute, either as authors or reviewers.

    Potentially much wider reach

    ‘Until recently, the journal was printed and sent to all Liga members. In addition, once a year a theme issue was compiled and sent to all neurologists in the Netherlands, also to those not specifically working in epilepsy care. Now that Epilepsie is published open access, its reach is potentially much wider. Epilepsie is now accessible to the entire Dutch-speaking region and not only those working in epilepsy care have access to the journal, but also professionals interested in or indirectly involved with epilepsy.

    ‘We want to make the best 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 from authors of the Dutch-speaking world and with an expanded readership, including those outside the direct epilepsy field.

    Challenges with open science

    ‘Open science is in the interest of all professionals working in epilepsy care and patients. At the same time, we do have some challenges with open science within our field. For example, it clashes with patient-related data that cannot be shared due to privacy laws, and sometimes also with the interests of entrepreneurs who supply institutions with equipment/software.

    We chose openjournals.nl because it offers full professional support in making both new issues and the Epilepsie archive open access. We are proud that, as the Nederlandse Liga tegen Epilepsie, we are now using the most widely used open source publishing platform for scientific journals.’

  • January 18, 2023

    The ideal model, if you ask me

    Interview with Sible Andringa

    We invited a number of (lead) editors to tell us about their journals and the reasons why they chose to work with Openjournals.nl. Sible Andringa, editor-in-chief of the Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics feels that the journal has become more attractive to authors since switching to Openjournals and he explains why his editors quit working with a traditional publisher.

    Sible Andringa: ‘The journal Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics (DuJAL) has been around for a long time. It started as the Journal of Applied Linguistics in Articles. The first volume was published in-house in 1976. From the beginning, the journal was published by the Dutch Association of Applied Linguistics Anéla (see www.anela.nl). In 2012, it was decided to change its name. The journal was renamed Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics and it has since been published by  John Benjamins. In January 2021, the journal moved to Openjournals.

    ‘So Anéla owns the journal and this association unites all applied linguistics scholars in and near the Netherlands (especially Flanders). Articles in DuJAL are actually always about language use, language acquisition and/or language policy and everything related to it. Articles can also have a methodological angle. And authors often come to us if there is clearly a ‘Dutch angle’ to the article.

    Moral duty

    ‘Open science is becoming an increasingly important theme in our field. Applied linguistics is highly interdisciplinary and for example, leans heavily on the methods of psychology. There is a lot of experimentation and use of complex designs and statistical procedures. This makes the transparency of procedures and sharing of data and analyses increasingly important. There was a reproducibility crisis in psychology, and although we do not have such a crisis in linguistics, this field also suffers from a lack of transparency and replication.

    ‘It is also becoming increasingly important for scientists to engage in open science. You can often present all kinds of badges with your article these days: open data badge, open instruments badge, etc.. So yes, open science is important and it is becoming more and more important. At the same time, I feel that open access publishing in particular is stagnating somewhat, although I cannot substantiate this with numbers. The emphasis seems to be more and more on open data, open instruments, and less on the open access publication. While I think this is the most important thing: open data and open instruments are a service to the research field, while open access publishing ensures that knowledge is accessible to everyone. So I do worry about how things are going.

    ‘That’s why Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics is now available as a diamond open access journal. We really choose diamond for ideological reasons: we all have a costly moral obligation to make our research public, and we want equality. Open access becomes elitist as soon as authors have to pay for it. The knowledge generated by science should be accessible to everyone, and everyone should be able to publish open access. You will only achieve that with diamond open access.

    Leaving Benjamins

    ‘We had an open access deal at Benjamins: the last two volumes were open access there too. Yet we left. That had a lot to do with a lack of freedom. We wanted a publishing model that was not attractive to Benjamins. That’s when we left. Fortunately, Openjournals was just launched. What we really like is the total freedom to set up our journal the way we want. Openjournals only asks that we publish open access and that is also what we want.

    New forms of publishing

    ‘What you see happening a lot now is that a publication becomes very fragmented. If someone publishes in a journal of one of the big publishers, you often see that the article is offered there in final form. At the same time, there is a pre- or post-print in some public archives so people without access can also read it. And to make things more complicated, somewhere else, the dataset or instrumentation is offered. With Openjournals, you can choose to offer all that together: pre- and post-prints are not necessary, and all data and instruments can be co-published.’

    ‘The ideal model, if you ask me.’

    ‘In addition we can now also think about all kinds of new forms of publishing, such as publishing conference posters and the like. Those conversations we now have, because we know it is possible and allowed by the publisher. We find that we have become more attractive to authors now that we are open access and publish on an ongoing basis.  There are not huge numbers of submissions right away, but a steady stream of good quality.’

  • September 28, 2022

    Technology and Regulation registered in DOAJ

    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.

  • September 19, 2022

    Openjournals at Open Science Festival 2022

    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.

  • August 23, 2022

    New Journal: Passion

    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.

  • July 13, 2022

    New journal: Aesthetic Investigations

    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.

  • July 6, 2022

    Openjournals joins PKP Sprint 2022

    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.

  • June 27, 2022

    New journal: Tijdschrift voor Onderwijspraktijkstudies (TOPS)

    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.

  • May 18, 2022

    Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics registered in DOAJ

    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.

  • May 11, 2022

    New journal: Ecclesial Futures

    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.

  • April 22, 2022

    Joys of Google Analytics

    With Google Analytics, editors can gain insight into the reading behaviour of their audience. Editors can find out how well articles are read, which subjects arouse the most interest and where readers come from. Installing Google Analytics in a journal website is relatively easy, but it does require a Gmail account. We will soon distribute a short instruction so that editors can set up this tool themselves.

  • April 21, 2022

    Special Collections

    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.

  • April 8, 2022

    Journal Handelingen added to OpenJournals.nl

    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.

  • March 4, 2022

    Portico en PKP PN

    To ensure the sustainable preservation of articles, openjournals archives all articles published on the platform at both Portico and the PKP Preservation Network. Both archives services store all articles in a dark archive, an archive that is not searchable and public. A dark archive becomes publicly accessible only after a so-called trigger event has occurred. An example of a trigger event is the discontinuation of a magazine.

  • February 27, 2022

    Publication ethics

    Transparency is important for modern scientific journals and this includes a statement on publication ethics, on the journal website. In this statement, an editorial staff states the policy with regard to authorship, intellectual property, availability of research data, as well as a description of complaints procedures. Increasingly, indexing services, for example, pay attention to the availability of such a statement. But it is of course also pleasant for authors and readers if this is properly arranged. Openjournals can advise.

  • Open journal platforms in other countries

    The platform openjournals.nl has existed for one year now. There are many other countries where a similar platform exists. For example in Finland, Denmark and France. National, well-organised services where scientists can make their work available to readers easily and without barriers. In many countries, a good infrastructure is being created to publish science open access, also for books or other information sources. A good development!

  • February 16, 2022

    Indexing services

    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.

  • February 1, 2022

    New openjournals.nl website

    Openjournals recently launched its new website. This new website allows us to inform you better about developments at openjournals, such as new services, advice to editors and introducing new journals on our platform. We would love to hear your opinion or your suggestions for improvements.

  • December 6, 2021

    Radboud University Press

    Last October, Radboud University Press, the new diamond open access publishing house of Radboud University, was festively opened. The university publishing house aims to publish both journals and books in full open access. The diamond open access model of Radboud University Press made openjournals the preferred partner for hosting the academic journals at no cost to the author or reader. Currently, Revue Relief and Religie & Maatschappij are already published at openjournals. We congratulate Radboud University Press on its official launch and look forward to further collaboration.

  • December 5, 2021

    Twitter

    Twitter is a widely used social medium within academic circles. In short messages, researchers alert each other to new articles, findings, conferences, call for papers and more. This makes Twitter an ideal platform for scientific journals to collect copy, tip off interested parties about new publications and engage in a conversation with the readership. In addition to openjournals themselves, several OJ journals are also on twitter:

    @Openjournalsnl
    @Techregjournal
    @BMGN_LCHR
    @_tseg
    @jhokjournal
    @dujal_journal
    @EMLC_journal
    @ReliefRevue
    @ReligieSoc

    Openjournals also offers a personalized introduction into Twitter and the tools to get your journal hooked up to academic Twitter. Make an appointment for this by emailing info@openjournals.nl.

  • July 4, 2021

    DOAJ Admission Requirements

    The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is the largest independent database of information on OA journals.  All journals on openjournals.nl should be registered or applying for registration with DOAJ. Journals must meet strict requirements to be accepted by DOAJ. For example, a clear description of the journal, its editors and the editorial process must be described on the website. Furthermore, a journal must publish at least 5 articles per year. More information about the admission requirements can be found at this link.