Although journal editors in developing and emerging countries face many of the same issues as editors in other parts of the world, they also face challenges which are specific to the countries or the regions they work in.
Practical barriers such as power outages, lack of hardware and software, and limited connectivity are coupled with issues such as language and isolation from peers to make the work of a journal editor in these regions particularly demanding.
As part of its Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information, the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) works with editors to address these challenges via the Journals Online (JOL) projects.
These projects are a result of a partnership between INASP, the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) and CrossRef. PKP provide the Open Journals System technology which is used by the JOLs to develop websites hosting a number of journals, and CrossRef maintain a multi-publisher linking network which vastly improves the visibility and accessibility of journal articles.
Through this partnership, journal editors from developing and emerging countries access and contribute to advice, resource guides, links to suitable technologies and hosting organisations, and capacity-building workshops. This enables editors to load their own content, manage their editorial systems and make the best use of technology to increase quality, visibility and accessibility. As one such editor, Dr. A.K.M. Azharul Islam, said:
“…the submission rate increased dramatically following the start of online submissions. There has been a corresponding increase in the geographical spread of the articles too... Initially JSR was launched with the intention of publishing one issue annually. But because of a substantial number of submissions each month it has been decided that we would publish 3 online issues per volume with 1 print volume per year.”
Following the success of Africa Journals Online, which is now managed in Africa, INASP is working with editors in Bangladesh, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Between them, these JOLs provide access to over 200 journals across a wide range of subjects. Eighty percent of the content is available in full text and in 2010 researchers from over 180 countries have downloaded 2.6 million pdf articles.
Together the project partners are raising the quality, visibility and accessibility of journals from developing and emerging countries, and to placing their research firmly on the international map.
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