From: ElHassan ElSabry <[log in to unmask]> Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2016 07:39:43 +0900 Apologies for the missing link. Directory of Free Arab Journals ElHassan On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 7:01 AM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > From: ElHassan ElSabry <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2016 06:51:27 +0900 > > Dear Liblicense Members, > > I am writing to you to announce the release of the second version of > the Directory of Free Arab Journals . It is an independent initiative > to produce a directory for all OA journals produced in Arab countries, > curated and funded by a group of OA activists in the region (myself > included). The website was there since 2013 the new version released > last week includes over twice as many journals and many new website > features. It currently lists 250 journals from 172 publishers in 17 > Arab countries. The guide is published under a CC-BY-NC license. > > So far, the interface is available only in Arabic but our (near) > future plans include adding an English interface as well as creating a > list of "distinguished" journals (those meeting extra quality > criteria) to induce competition among listed journals to raise their > own standards. The scientific publishing scene in the Arab World is > not so bright and we aim to contribute to changing this situation. > > Other plans include using the current website blog and a future > mailing list to steer discussion about OA in the region. The plan is > to move the website from just being a directory to a portal/forum for > Open Access activism in the region. I am personally working now to > create a guide for editors on how to create and maintain OA journals > (probably using OJS) which should be the first of it's kind in Arabic. > Hopefully we can later extend the training material to include > repository management software too. > > Several universities have already linked to DFAJ and I encourage the > librarians in the group to add it to their Lib-guides if they believe > their patrons might be interested in scientific literature coming from > the Arab World. > > You can find more about the directory by visiting the website (link > above, in Arabic though). However, for your reference, DFAJ currently > offers the following features: > 1. A listing of all Arab journals (produced by Arab universities and > research institutions) that are openly available on the internet > (regardless of their field and whether or not they have a print > edition) > > 2. Hyperlinks to all listed journals and their publishing organizations > > 3. Standard information including ISSN, Publisher (and commercial > publishing partners, if any), country of publication, frequency, > keywords and fulltext language(s) > > 4. The ability to browse journals by field as well as an advanced > search function (to search by any of the elements mentioned above) > > 5. A form to suggest new journals > > 6. Information about the peer-review style as well as indexing in > international databases (only Scopus & DOAJ for now) > > 7. The ability for visitors to create accounts and save their favorite journals > > Needless to say, we would be very happy to receive any feedback or > suggestions to enhance the directory. > > Regards, > ElHassan > (on behalf of the DFAJ team) > > -- > ElHassan ElSabry, M.Sc. > > Doctoral Candidate > Science & Technology Policy Program > National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (Japan) > > Content Development Specialist > Directory of Free Arab Journals (DFAJ) > > Assistant Editor > "Backchannels": the Official Blog of the Society of Social Studies of Science -- ElHassan ElSabry, M.Sc. Doctoral Candidate Science & Technology Policy Program National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (Japan) Content Development Specialist Directory of Free Arab Journals (DFAJ) Assistant Editor "Backchannels": the Official Blog of the Society of Social Studies of Science