About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Nordic Perspectives on Open Science (NOPOS) is a journal on all aspects of Open Science. The journal focuses on the Nordic and Baltic countries, highlighting news, experiences, experiments, policies, research and viewpoints on Open Science from or pertaining to the region. 

Review process

For all manuscripts submitted in NOPOS, an editor checks that the manuscript complies with the Submission guidelines and screens the manuscript for plagiarism. If a manuscript has been published elsewhere (including preprint servers, blogs, etc), the author must notify the journal about it at submission. 

Manuscripts in sections Viewpoints, Notes and Case studies undergo editorial review by at least two members of the editorial team. Section Articles is closed for submissions from 2023 and until further notice. 

In 2023, NOPOS is introducing a formal peer review process: only manuscripts submitted in section Research articles will go through a formal peer-review process involving at least two external reviewers. An author can suggest reviewers at submission. An editor selects suitable reviewers and sends out invitations that contain the title and abstract of the submission and a suggested deadline. Reviewers are given one week to decide whether they would like to take on the task, and, on average, 4 weeks to complete the review. The editor will contact the author with the review results within 7 weeks from submission. 

Note that section Research articles does not accept previously published articles that have been through a formal peer review process. If a manuscript has been through peer review elsewhere, but not published, the author is asked to provide information about the review recommendations.

NOPOS has non-blinded peer reviews as a default: the author’s identity is known to the reviewers, and the reviewers’ identities are known to the author. Both the author and the reviewers have the possibility to opt out of the non-blinded process. The author can ask, at submission, that their identity is not disclosed to reviewers. If a reviewer wishes not to disclose their identity, they must inform the editor about it when answering the invitation to review. The names of the reviewers and the reviews themselves will not be published. A review text remains the property of the reviewer.

Reviewer guidelines

Reviewers are expected to adhere to COPE’s Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers, by providing a fair and unbiased assessment of the manuscript, disclosing competing interests, being specific in their critique (read COPE’s guidelines for more information). 

The review process in NOPOS is carried out on the journal’s publishing platform (Open Journal Systems) – NOPOS asks that reviewers submit their feedback through the platform, so that the review history is stored together with the manuscript. 

Reviewers can use the following questions for their review feedback (keep in mind that not all of the questions may be relevant for all manuscripts):

  1. Does the article fit with the theme of NOPOS?
  2. Has the author clearly explained the aim of the article and research?
  3. Do the authors sufficiently describe the article's significance to the field?
  4. Does the author link previous research clearly to the current study?
  5. Are the relevant references mentioned, and are there other sources you feel are crucial to the article's understanding?
  6. Do the authors use a sufficient amount of resources and data?
  7. Is the methodology used in the article sound?
  8. Has the author used sufficient and accurate additional materials (graphs, facts, tables, formulas, etc.) in the article?
  9. In case the article does not rely on empirical data, does the article's approach or argument make sense?
  10. Is the article's organization and structure clear?
  11. Does the author effectively summarize the article's conclusions?
  12. Is the article's language clear?

Any other detailed suggestions for revision are welcome. Review feedback can be submitted through the journal’s review form and/or as comments in the manuscript file.

If you have chosen not to disclose your identity (you must inform the editor about this when you accept the invitation to review), and you submit your review as comments in the manuscript Word file, remember to remove your personal information from the file.

You will be able to choose among the following review recommendations:

  • Accept Submission
  • Revisions required
  • Resubmit for review
  • Resubmit elsewhere
  • Decline submission

If you think that a submission should be moved to another section of NOPOS (Case studies, Viewpoints, Notes), notify the editor about it.

After evaluating your review, the editor will contact the author. If revisions were recommended, you may be asked to go through the revised article for further approval before publication.

Register as a potential reviewer!

If you are not yet registered as a reviewer in NOPOS and would like to contribute with your expertise register on the journal’s platform! Describe your reviewing interests in your profile, and when a suitable manuscript is submitted, an editor will contact you.

Publication Frequency

We will publish continuously, opening the annual issue in January and closing it in December. Special issues may be contemplated in conjunction with special conferences, projects etc.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Authors retain copyright. All articles are published under a Creative Commons license; the default license in NOPOS is CC BY, but authors are free to choose another Creative Commons license.

There are no publication or submission charges.

Journal History

The Nordic network on Open Access, a semi-formal co-operation between important OA actors in the Nordic Countries has been instrumental in setting up this journal. Nordic Perspectives on Open Science is in some part a successor to ScieCom Info with its Nordic-Baltic outlook, but aims to cover a wider field of "open".

The editorial team of NOPOS consists of employees of higher education institutions in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The journal is published by Septentrio Academic Publishing at UiT The Arctic University of Norway.