Thursday, January 31, 2013

Some OA journals that publish S-Asia related research

Name and URL online print Fee?* Copyright Licence DOAJ
------- --- ------ -------- --------- ---------------- ------
Bhāṣā: Journal of South Asian
Linguistics, Philology and
Grammatical Traditions
Y N N author CC-BY no entry
Himalaya Y N N not stated CC DOAJ
Studia Orientalia Electronica Y N N author Full OA no entry
वागर्थः (An International Journal of
Sanskrit Research)
Y Y ₹5900/-
unstated but OA no entry
KERVAN - International Journal of
Afro-Asiatic Studies
Y N N author CC-BY no entry
Social Sciences Y Y N author OA
DOAJ
Journal of World Philosophies (formerly Confluence) Y N N journal CC BY no entry
Journal of Bengali Studies Y N? N author a benign muddle DOAJ
Acta Poética Y N? N journal CC BY-NC DOAJ
Linguistica Y Y? N author CC BY-SA DOAJ
Hiperboreea Y N? N journal CC BY-NC-ND DOAJ
Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis Y ? N journal CC BY-NC-ND DOAJ
Ancient Science of Life Y Y N journal CC BY-NC-SA DOAJ
Asian Studies Y N N author CC BY-SA DOAJ
Acta Linguistica Asiatica Y N N author CC BY-SA DOAJ
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Y N N journal CC BY-NC-ND DOAJ
Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine Y Y N journal CC BY-NC-SA DOAJ
Journal of Ayurveda and
Holistic Medicine
Y N? ₹1500
for Ind.
nationals
journal CC BY-NC-SA
History of Science in South Asia Y Y N author CC BY-SA DOAJ
Asian Literature and Translation Y not yet N author CC
Ancient Asia Y N? N? author CC BY DOAJ
Approaching Religion Y N? N?


Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception Y N N author

Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Y N N journal CC BY-NC DOAJ
Asian Social Science Y Y $300


Studi Linguistici e Filologici Online Y N N


eJIM - eJournal of
Indian Medicine
Y Y, cost N


Journal of History and Social Sciences Y N N?


Annals of Ayurvedic Medicine Y N N


Rivista di Studi Sudasiatici Y Y N


Himalayan Linguistics Y N N


Journal of South Asian Linguistics Y N N?


Annual of Urdu Studies Y Y, cost N


Pacific WorldJournal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies Y Y, free N? journal

Health, Culture and Society Y N N author CC BY DOAJ
Open Journal of Philosophy Y N $400+
$50/page
above 10 pages
journal

International Journal of Jaina Studies Y Y
N journal Print copies
from HGK

Asian Ethnology olim
Asian Folklore Studies
Y Y N journal

Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies Y N N?
restricted
OA policy

Transcultural Studies Y N N



And see the India-related list that used to be maintained by Scholars Without Borders (mostly science and medicine):

Saying that a journal is OA still leaves some critical questions unanswered.  E.g.,
  1. Is there a "going in" fee, or Article Processing Fee (APF)?
    One of the items in the list above charges $300.  Several of the big houses like Brill, Elsevier and Springer will also publish your article as OA, even in an otherwise non-OA journal, if you pay them enough.  Their APF prices are typically $3000 (Springer, Elsevier).  I am not interested in including such journals in the list above, as I consider anything above $300-500 to be profiteering.  APFs of $300-500 are typical of some even very large OA publishers like Hindawi, proving that this is a valid business model. 
    Quite apart from my personal view, I do not think APF fees of $3000 meet most people's normal expectation of the meaning of an Open Access journal.  As South Asianists, we are interested in access for both readers and authors in countries where scholars are relatively poor.  A high APF mutes less wealthy authors.  As such, both Gratis OA (also called "Diamond OA") and low or zero APFs are indexes of relevance.
  2. Copyright: being OA means that whoever owns the copyright has given permission for the article to be disseminated at zero cost.  But it doesn't say anything about who owns the copyright of the article.  Many OA journals allow the authors to retain copyright, but not all.
  3. Is the journal online-only, or both online and in print?
  4. The online version is free by definition, but the print issues would usually cost something.  How much?
  5. Is the journal indexed by the main global indexing services?
  6. Is the journal peer-reviewed? Strongly or weakly?

More distinctions (e.g., Gratis OA (free of price) and Libre OA (free of price and rights restrictions)) and discussion in Wikipedia (consulted 13 Feb 2012).  The Sherpa/Romeo website helps with some of this.

I'm putting some indicators in parentheses after the journal title, for those cases where I can find out the information without correspondence.

It is often hard to find out these facts from the journals' websites.  This suggests to me that for some of the editors, the various business models of OA publishing are not always well understood. 

[2022-11: I keep the above list up to date as I hear of new journals.  But some of the work of this blog post has now been superseded by FOASAS.]



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*APF = Article Processing Fee, a fee that the publisher charges the author or the author's institution for publication in the Open Access journal.  See discussion in Wikipedia (consulted 12 Feb 2012).