Guides for OA journal publishers

This list is part of the Open Access Directory.

• This is a list of guidelines, primers, recommendations, and best practices for publishers of OA journals. When possible, give authors, titles, links, publishers (or sponsoring organizations), and dates.

• Note the dates. Some of these guides are new and some are fairly old.

• Alphabetical by author.

• Related lists on OAD: (1) Free and open-source journal management software, (2) OA journal business models, (3) OA journal launch services.

• For real-time updates, some not yet reflected here, follow the oa.guides.journals tag of the Open Access Tracking Project.

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• Australian Open Access Support Group (AOASG):
  • OA publishing case studies
  • Starting an OA journal

• Suzanne Pilaar Birch, Essential Guide: How to start an Open Access journal in five steps, LSE Impact Blog, September 2014.

• Centre for Digital Cultures, Hybrid Publishing Lab, and Leuphana University of Lüneburg, How to Start an Open Access Journal, 2014.

• Raym Crow, Sponsorships for Nonprofit Scholarly & Scientific Journals: A Guide to Defining & Negotiating Successful Sponsorships, SPARC, Release 1.0, July 2005.

• Raym Crow and Howard Goldstein, Guide to Business Planning for Launching a New Open Access Journal, Open Society Institute, Version 2, July 2003.

• Raym Crow and Howard Goldstein, Model Business Plan: A Supplemental Guide for Open Access Journal Developers & Publishers, Open Society Institute, Edition 1, July 2003.

• Raym Crow and Howard Goldstein, Guide to Business Planning for Converting a Subscription-based Journal to Open Access, Open Society Institute, Version 3, February, 2004.

• Mark Cyzyk and Sayeed Choudhury, A Survey and Evaluation of Open-Source Electronic Publishing Systems, Johns Hopkins University and the Open Society Institute, April 2008.

• Martin Paul Eve, Starting an Open Access Journal: a step-by-step guide (part 1, part 2), July 2012.

• Rick Johnson, Declaring Independence: A Guide to Creating Community-Controlled Science Journals, SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition) and TRLN (the Triangle Research Libraries Network), 2001. Only an abridgment is still online.

• Public Library of Science, Publishing Open-Access Journals: A Brief Overview from The Public Library of Science, February 2004.

• Scholastica
  • The Open Access Journal Starter Kit, eBook, 2014.
  • The Journal Editor's Definitive Guide to Digital Publishing (2nd Edition).

• Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC):
  • Getting your journal indexed. Continuously updated.
  • Open-access Journal Publishing Resource Index. Launched May 26, 2011. Continuously updated.
  • Transitioning Your Journal from Subscription to Open Access, undated.
  • Sheridan Brown, Publishing an Open Access Journal, January 2016 (archived April 2016).

• Lorna Shapiro, Establishing and Publishing an Online Peer-reviewed Journal: Action Plan, Resourcing, and Costs, Public Knowledge Project, 2005.

• David J. Solomon, Developing Open Access Journals: A Practical Guide, Chandos Publishing, February 2008. This is a priced, printed book. An abridged OA edition is available. Also see the companion set of annotated links to resources for open access projects. The author welcomes suggestions and will try to update this regularly.

• David J. Solomon and Caroline Sutton, Workshops on Creating Open Access Journals, 2008-2009.

• SQW Ltd., Costs and business models in scientific research publishing, Wellcome Trust, April 2004.

• Kevin Stranack, Getting Found, Staying Found, Increasing Impact: Enhancing Readership and Preserving Content for OJS Journals, Public Knowledge Project, 2006.

• Kevin Stranack, Starting a New Scholarly Journal in Africa, Public Knowledge Project, 2008.

• Caroline Sutton (project manager), Online Guide to Open Access Journals Publishing, Co-Action Publishing and the Lund University Library, January 2010.

• Jan Velterop, Guide to Open Access Publishing and Scholarly Societies, Open Society Institute, July 2005.