From: Dom Mitchell <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:27:10 +0200

The Directory of Open Access Journals (www.doaj.org) is delighted to
announce new selection criteria and *hereby announces that these new
criteria are open for public comment until July 15th*.

The DOAJ-team has developed the criteria and our Advisory Board
(http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=loadTemplate&template=about&uiLanguage=en#board)
has provided input and comments.

With the growth in the number of research funders, institutional open
access policies and mandates, all stakeholders involved – researchers
(as authors and readers), research managers, staff managing
publication funds, librarians, universities and research funders -
need a trusted and reliable information resource that identifies good
quality open access journals and filters out disreputable publishers.
Equally, the former have a vested interest in not being associated
with the latter.

We have tried to construct objective criteria that can facilitate
compliance verification easily. In order to be listed in the DOAJ, a
journal must meet the following criteria:

- Journal will be asked to provide basic information (title, ISSN,
etc.), contact information, and information about journal policies

- Journal is registered with SHERPA/RoMEO

- Journal has an editorial board with clearly identifiable members
(including affiliation information)

- Journal publishes a minimum of five articles per year (does not
apply for new journals)

- Allows use and reuse at least at the following levels (as specified
in the Open Access Spectrum,
http://www.plos.org/about/open-access/howopenisit/):

+ Full text, metadata, and citations of articles can be crawled and
accessed with permission (Machine Readability Level 4)

+ Provides free readership rights to all articles immediately upon
publication (Reader Rights Level 1)

+ Reuse is subject to certain restrictions; no remixing (Reuse Rights Level 3)

+ Allow authors to retain copyright in their article with no
restrictions (Copyrights Level 1)

+ Author can post the final, peer-reviewed manuscript version
(postprint) to any repository or website (Author Posting Rights Level
2)

You may review the complete list of criteria here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlFw8p9XB3C6dHE3ZC1Hd2FMMjAweE96czRQb3NDbnc&usp=sharing

Future submissions for inclusion in to DOAJ must include the complete
set of information provided by the publisher. This information will be
publicly available in the Directory. The journals currently listed in
the DOAJ will have to go through a re-evaluation process based on the
new criteria. This work will take place over the next 12 months or so.

*DOAJ Seal of Approval* At the same time we are launching the DOAJ
Seal of Approval for Open Access Journals (in short: the DOAJ Seal) to
encourage a high practice standard. These journals will be identified
with the DOAJ Seal logo.

In addition to the more general criteria, above, required for
inclusion in the DOAJ, the following criteria must be met for a
journal to receive the DOAJ Seal:

- Provides machine readable copyright information to help search
engines identify open works

- Provides DOIs at the article level

- Provides metadata to DOAJ at the article level

- Has a digital archiving/preservation arrangement in place

- Allows use and reuse at least at the following levels (as specified
in the Open Access Spectrum,
http://www.plos.org/about/open-access/howopenisit/):

+ Allows a community standard API or other protocol to crawl or access
full text, metadata, citations, and data (including supplementary
data) for articles (Open Access Spectrum: Machine Readability Level 2)

+ Ensures generous reuse and remixing rights (Open Access Spectrum:
Reuse Rights Level 1)

+ Allows authors to post any version of their article to any
repository or website (Open Access Spectrum: Author Posting Rights
Level 1)

+++++++++++++++++++++

We are confident that the new criteria will positively contribute to
the transparency of open access. Since open access journals are a
relatively new phenomenon, and one that is continuously changing, we
will probably have to revise the criteria to keep them current and up
to date.

To avoid any misunderstanding, we are restating DOAJ's scope here:

The DOAJ has the ambition to continue to be the white list of open
access journals that are global in scope in terms of geography,
scientific discipline and language.

In scope: Journals that provide immediate access to scholarly articles
without reader payment, including back-files from those journals made
freely available after transitioning to open access.

Not in scope:

Single articles from subscription based journals made freely available
under an open access option (hybrid articles).
Articles from subscription based journals made freely available after
an embargo period (so-called delayed open access – not a term in our
dictionary).

Your comments on the new criteria are much appreciated and will
contribute toward their implementation. Comments must be received
before 6pm CEST on Monday 15th July 2013 and should be sent to the
DOAJ Community Manager Dominic Mitchell ([log in to unmask]).

Kind regards

Lars Bjørnshauge Managing Director, DOAJ
------------
Dom Mitchell
Community Manager, DOAJ