A Survey of Scholarly Journals Using Open Journal Systems

Abstract

A survey of 998 scholarly journals that use Open Journal Systems (OJS), an open source journal software platform, captures the characteristics of an emerging class of scholar-publisher open access journals. The journals in the sample follow traditional norms for peer-reviewing, acceptance rates, and disciplinary focus, but as a group are distinguished by the number that offer open access to their content, growth rates in new titles, participation rates from developing countries, and extremely low operating budgets. The survey also documents the limited degree to which open source software can alter a field of communication, for OJS appears to have created a third path, dedicated to maximizing access to research and scholarship, as an alternative to traditional scholarly society and commercial publishing routes.