On 2-Sep-10, at 5:15 AM, Sally Morris wrote: When I looked at OA journals a few years ago I found that (a) they tended to publish very little and (b) they seemed much more likely to disappear or wither on the vine
Sally When is a journal not a journal? A closer look at the DOAJ. Sally Morris, Learned Publishing Vol 19: 1, pp73-6, Jan 2006. DOI 10.1087/095315106775122565 (Open Access) Comments: Interesting interpretation in this "Personal View" article. For example, the author states that of the 1,213 journals sampled (of the 1,443 journals then listed in the DOAJ,) "1,150 journals turned out to be, on average, longer-established than is generally supposed". This is 95% of the sample that exceed the expected longevity. I would argue that this evidence does not support Morris' statement above. This rigorous critique of the journals in the DOAJ has been most helpful both to DOAJ and to the OA community at large. Journals must maintain high standards to remain in DOAJ. Other evidence that open access is thriving, not withering: The number of journals in DOAJ has more than tripled, and nearly quadrupled, since Morris' article was published. As of today, there are 5,333 journals listed in DOAJ. http://www.doaj.org By 2009, the open access journal PLoS One had already become among the world's largest journals, and it may become THE largest sometime this year. See: Binfield, Peter. "PLoS One: background, future development, and article-level metrics". ELPUB 2009, Milan. Search from here: http://elpub.scix.net The growth rates for open access publishing are only a small part of the larger story of the growth of open access, which I address on a quarterly basis in my series, The Dramatic Growth of Open Access, available here: http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2006/08/dramatic-growth-of-open-access-series.html While this early indication of momentum of the open access movement is very encouraging, it is important to remember that this is just the beginning, and that a lot of work - to develop and implement strong open access archiving mandate policies, among other things - still needs to happen. best, Heather Morrison, MLIS PhD Student, SFU School of Communication http://pages.cmns.sfu.ca/heather-morrison/ The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com