The Directory of Open Access Journals ("DOAJ") is a database that indexes and provides access to "high quality, peer reviewed open access research journals" across a variety of subject areas, languages, and countries. What exactly is open access? According to DOAJ, at its core an OA journal is one that does not charge either the reader (or the reader's institution) for access. DOAJ in turn bases its definition on the 10 recommendations of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, which defines "open access" as research literature freely available on the public internet to be used as desired by the reader (i.e., read, download, copy, distribute...), the only restriction being as follows: "give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited."
In order to be included in DOAJ, journals must meet several requirements, but at minimum journals must be peer-reviewed research periodicals, published more than once a year, and intended for a scholarly audience. (See the DOAJ website for full particulars.) DOAJ removes access to journals for various reasons, for instance, if a journal moves away from an open access model or if a journal publishes too infrequently. An independent, stand-alone entity, DOAJ is managed by the Infrastructure Services for Open Access.
Containing both basic and advanced search functionalities, the DOAJ provides a straightforward search interface. The advanced search page contains a dropdown box that allows for a more focused search by using various fields, including title, publisher, and DOI. Furthermore, the left-hand sidebar enables a search by five categories, including subject, journal license, and publisher. (As an aside, the CC-BY is the most common journal license type for all articles indexed, while the three most indexed publishers are PLOS, Hindawi, and Biomed Central.) DOAJ allows string searching by the use of quotes.
DOAJ is an excellent resource, especially for researchers who do not have access to proprietary scholarly journals and databases, including scholars in poor countries.
The Directory of Open Access Books ("DOAB") contains over 5000 peer-reviewed books from academic publishers. All open access publishers who publish academic, peer reviewed books are eligible to participate, as long as certain standards are met. DOAB is an initiative of the OAPEN Foundation, based at the National Library in The Hague. OAPEN, an organization dedicated to Open Access publishing, is a member of OASPA (http://oaspa.org), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association.
DOAB has been recognized for its achievements in open access by several reputable sources:
-2015 IFLA/Brill Open Access Award: - the award was based on DOAB’s “invaluable worth by becoming the central hub of the global infrastructure for open access book publishing.” (IFLA, The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), is a well-respected organization in library and information science.
-Best Free Reference Web Site: DOAB was selected as one of the MARS Best Free Reference Web Sites for 2013. MARS is a section of the American Library Association (ALA).
SPARC ("Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition") is an organization dedicated to the advancement of open access in order. "to democratize access to knowledge, accelerate discovery, and increase the return on our investment in research and education."
BioMed Central ("BMC") is a publisher based in the UK that specializes in open access. Currently, BMC publishes over 290 peer-reviewed journals in Biology, Clinical Medicine and Health. Articles are made freely accessible online immediately at publication. BMC is owned by Springer Nature.
PLOS ("Public Library of Science") is a major provider of free, online articles, founded in 2001 as a non-profit Open Access publisher. PLOS publishes peer-reviewed open access journals across a broad range of medicine and the sciences.
Highwire Press is a major repository of free, full-text articles in the sciences. As of 2015, Highwire Press helped to publish over two million full-text articles in online format for free, roughly 1/3rd of the total number of articles Highwire publishes.
