DOAJ: Advancing open access by fostering journal diversity through collaboration

Abstract

Since its creation in 2003, the mission of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) has been to increase the visibility of open-access, peer-reviewed scholarly journals, regardless of discipline, geography, or language.
Initially, the DOAJ used a simple suggestion form consisting of five blank fields. The index started with a little more than 300 titles. Twenty years later, the DOAJ has become a reference in the scholarly ecosystem with more than 20,000 journals indexed. Over these 20 years, the application form and our criteria have evolved significantly alongside the shift to digital and the heterogeneous adoption of open science by the community and academic practices.

But if Open Science itself has a heterogeneous adoption (due to technical complexity, lack of knowledge, lack of resources, and diversity of practices), how can we, the DOAJ, help foster diversity in our content? How has diversity evolved in our index? What is our approach?

Since the beginning, our focus has been to work with and for the community, implementing changes as needed, to co-evolve with publishing practices and the scholarly community. In 2022, we officially committed to the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI) and we collaborate with different organizations worldwide to discuss and develop principles that promote transparency and best practices in scholarly publishing. As the reputation of the DOAJ has evolved positively, so has our responsibility. That is why one of the core themes of our strategic goals for 2023-2025 is to advocate for equity and diversity in global access journal publishing.

In this presentation, we will outline our approach to fostering diversity in our content.
Where are we and what are we doing? We will cover different aspects, including the role of our worldwide team, the impact of our ambassador program, our academic and regional collaborations, and the diverse outputs and core texts we have produced to enhance diversity and equity.