The Directory of Open Access Journals is one of the largest repositories of open access journals, founded in 2003. The platform indexes thousands of journals and provides opportunities for anyone interested to search for and publish research. In our article, we will talk in more detail about this database and how scientists can use it.
What is the Directory of Open Access Journals?
The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a multidisciplinary database that indexes and provides free access to peer-reviewed scientific journals. The platform was created in 2003 and is supported by the non-profit organisation Infrastructure Services for Open Access (IS4OA). The main mission of DOAJ is to improve the visibility, openness, authority, application and impact of high-quality peer-reviewed open access journals, regardless of scientific field, country or language of publication.
The content of DOAJ currently includes:
- more than 22,000 scientific journals from more than 140 countries
- more than 13,000 APC-free journals
- 89 languages of publication
- 11.7 million metadata records of scientific articles
DOAJ does not store full texts of articles, but rather metadata (article records), i.e. brief descriptions of publications: title, authors, journal, year, DOI, keywords, and links to the original article. Journals are only included in the database after careful selection by a team of experts and volunteers.
How to get indexed in DOAJ?
A scientific journal can be included in DOAJ if it meets the database's requirements, which include:
- Compliance with the “Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing”.
- Actively publish research (at least 5 articles per year). If the publication is new, provide a publication history of at least one year or publish at least 10 scientific articles in open access.
- The full text of all journal content must be in open access.
- Have its own URL, and the information on the website in several languages must be the same.
- The journal must have at least one ISSN displayed on its official website.
- The editor and editorial board of the journal must be specified, and all articles must undergo a review process.
How can researchers use DOAJ?
Checking a journal before publication
Before submitting an article, it is worth making sure that the chosen publication is reliable. To do this, enter the name of the journal in the search box on the DOAJ page. If the journal is listed in the catalogue, it means that it complies with international open access standards, has a peer review system, and adheres to ethical principles.
Searching for publications by subject
DOAJ provides convenient tools for filtering by scientific field, country, language, licence type, or the presence of article processing charges (APCs). This allows you to quickly find the publication that best suits your specialisation and publication requirements.
Assessment of publication conditions
Journals marked “APC-free” do not charge publication fees, which is especially useful for young scientists or those who do not have grant funding. Each journal entry also specifies the type of licence (e.g., Creative Commons), which determines how the published material can be used.
DOAJ also allows you to familiarise yourself with the journal's review policy, ethical standards and editorial board. This helps to assess the level of transparency and professionalism of the publication. In addition, the platform's data is constantly updated, so researchers can keep track of new journals in their field. They can also analyse the geography of open journals and study trends in the development of science.
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