The Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA) and DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) are launching the Open Access Journals Toolkit website on 27 June 2023. The information on the site is designed to help new and established OA journals navigate the rapidly changing landscape of OA publishing. According to the operators, the toolkit promotes transparency, accessibility and inclusivity in scholarly publishing and is intended to help establish standards for scholarly OA publishing. It is a collaborative project that has been in development since November 2022 and is continually updated following feedback from the community.
Information for journal start-up and daily operations
The Open Access Journals Toolkit covers topics on issues from the entire life cycle of journal development and daily operations. According to DOAJ, use of the website will increase the impact of high-quality, peer-reviewed, open-access scientific research journals worldwide, regardless of discipline, geography or language. Key features of the toolkit, according to the operators, include:
- a curated collection of materials on various aspects of OA publishing, such as editorial policies, licensing, metadata and indexing,
- practical guidelines and templates to help publishers create and maintain high-quality OA journals,
- a user-friendly and accessible website with easy navigation and search functionality that makes it easy for all users to find relevant information and materials, regardless of how they access the internet,
- a downloadable PDF version for offline use.
Read the original press release on the launch of Open Access Journals Toolkit by OASPA and DOAJ here: https://oaspa.org/launch-of-new-open-access-toolkit/