Meet some of DOAJ’s longest-serving volunteers

DOAJ has over 100 volunteers who contribute their time and skills to reviewing applications. We are grateful for the work that our volunteers do, as editors and associate editors, supporting Open Access principles at home, in their day-to-day work, and abroad. 

DOAJ volunteers come from all over the world, from a variety of backgrounds, and speak many languages. 
We’ve checked in with four of our longest-serving volunteers in this blog post, to learn more about their background and their motivations to volunteer their time to DOAJ. We greatly appreciate the many years they have dedicated to DOAJ.

Hello, Reme! Tell us about your background and your experience volunteering with DOAJ.

I work at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), based in Valencia, Spain. I am a researcher and also the editor of a scholarly journal entitled Food Science and Technology International. My background is chemistry, although I have been working for years on issues related to scholarly publication and open access to science, especially on issues related to funders and institutional open access policies, open research data, and open access journals. I first became aware of DOAJ when it had just over 300 journals in 2003 during a session I organised on open access at the Association of Science Editors (EASE) Conference in Bath, UK, where it was perhaps one of the first DOAJ presentations. I moderated the session and the presentation was done by Colm Doyle, who in 2003 worked for DOAJ, when it was still a project of the University of Lund.

I have been a DOAJ volunteer for more than 10 years. I think I started in 2014, and I am proud to have contributed to the inclusion of journals in the directory and in some way to have helped improve their editorial quality. In this sense, DOAJ is not only an important  information resource, but also, with its criteria, it strives to improve the journals that apply for inclusion. Being in DOAJ also allowed me to participate in the experience of the members of the management team.

Hello, Rhonda! Tell us about your background and your experience volunteering with DOAJ.

I can hardly believe that I’ve been reviewing DOAJ applications for ten years. During that span, my library went through a couple of reorganizations, and I stepped into an interim leadership role along the way. Currently, I am the head of our Open Knowledge Strategies, providing leadership and strategic direction for open initiatives at the Rutgers University Libraries (New Jersey, USA). The position is highly collaborative and is responsible for increasing awareness of open “everything”. 

I often draw on my experience with DOAJ, especially when it comes to clearly and succinctly conveying open access concepts. I share what I have learned from volunteering for DOAJ with the editors of journals that we host at Rutgers. We recently brought on a new open access title that is re-establishing itself to be a top-tier peer-reviewed open access journal in its field. The editors are eager to apply for inclusion in DOAJ when the journal is eligible.

I review DOAJ applications for the English 2 group. Having an editor and a managing editor on different continents makes me feel connected to folks around the globe who are invested in open access publishing.

One of the best qualities of DOAJ is its emphasis on transparency and clear messaging. I’ve learned a great deal from my editors and other volunteers. Since joining the DOAJ Volunteer Slack channel this year, I’ve often found just the answers I need, along with a sense of community that makes the work even more rewarding

Hello, Andrea! Tell us about your background and your experience volunteering with DOAJ.

I am the Electronic Resources and Interim Collections Librarian at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, USA. I have over 20 years of experience in electronic resource management, licensing, assessment, and cataloging. Since 2023, I have also been responsible for contract negotiations and budget management. I also manage my university’s institutional repository, OpenSIUC.I have witnessed significant changes in scholarly communication but there is still a lot more to do.  Libraries, publishers, and societies continue to experiment and introduce new purchasing models, enter into transformative agreements, and expand open access every year. I got involved in institutional repositories to promote open access and scholarly sharing on my campus early in my career. I decided to join DOAJ as an Associate Editor in 2015. In my DOAJ work I use my language expertise in Hungarian and English, my licensing and copyright knowledge as well as my cataloging skills. Over the years I have reviewed dozens of DOAJ applications.  I find it very rewarding to contribute to DOAJ’s mission, correspond with journal editors, clarify editorial practices, ensure compliance with DOAJ journal standards, and overall improve open access journal quality. I am originally from Hungary and hold graduate degrees in music and library science.  

Hello, Liana! Tell us about your background and your experience volunteering with DOAJ.

I work for Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica where I am a journal editor and research teacher for the Master’s in Educational Management. I have a background in architecture, university administration, and graphic design. I assumed the role of Editor of Revista Electrónica Educare in 2015, and in October of that same year, DOAJ called for volunteers who wanted to collaborate in the journal evaluation process. At that moment, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to get in touch with good practices in Open Access and improve my skills as an editor. Fortunately, I was accepted and have been collaborating nonstop since that moment. 

My role in DOAJ is as a volunteer Associate Editor; I evaluate the journals that apply to the Directory; geographically, I cover Latin American countries and Spain. Collaborating with DOAJ over these 10 years has allowed me to appreciate the diversity of disciplinary expressions of knowledge and confirm the strategic value of Open Access and Open Science as pathways for the democratization of information. I consider it a personal commitment that my collaboration with DOAJ helps more journals adopt or add good editorial practices to their open science management.

How to volunteer for DOAJ?

DOAJ posts calls for volunteers on our social media platforms. Please subscribe to and follow this blog to keep up to date with any new calls for volunteers that fit your geographical or linguistic background.