DOAJ exists to serve the global open access community. Our strategy needs to do the same, and respond to real needs and reflect shared values. Our Managing Director, Joanna Ball, shares DOAJ’s new strategy for 2026-2028, which sets our direction for the coming years and builds on what we have achieved together so far.
Our changing landscape
Scholarly publishing moves fast, and our environment has changed during our last strategy period. There’s an increased focus on the inequities of the current publishing system, and a growing momentum for Diamond and community-led, no-fee models. Concerns have grown around research integrity, the use of AI in scholarly publishing and pervasive paper mills. At the same time, we’re also seeing open research information become a priority for more institutions and services. DOAJ’s experience and long-standing values of equity, trusted quality, and openness put us in a strong position to respond to these opportunities and challenges. But sustaining this work depends on careful planning and the continued support of our global community.
Looking back: what we achieved during our last strategy period
Our previous strategy, covering 2023–25, focused on strengthening DOAJ as a trusted, community-governed infrastructure for open access journals. We made progress in our three priority areas: advancing equity and inclusion, raising the profile of our journals, and organisational stability.
We invested heavily in our global outreach, including a branch-and-roots review of our successful ambassador programme, developing multilingual training for journal editors in partnership with Research4Life and ASSAf, and participating in Horizon Europe diamond open access projects: DIAMAS, CRAFT-OA, and ALMASI. We’re particularly proud that the number of journals from Africa indexed in DOAJ more than doubled (from 268 to 747).
We used our trusted position to raise the profile of open access journals, marking our 20th anniversary with a global webinar series reaching 1,500 participants in more than 100 countries, a year-long campaign on trust in open access journals, and partnerships with regional platforms, funders and infrastructure organisations. In collaboration with OASPA, we launched the OA Journals Toolkit, and we highlighted the valuable contribution of smaller publishers and through our regular “journal stories” series.
Finally, we focused on strengthening DOAJ’s sustainability and resilience, revising our supporter models, expanding consortial partnerships, and investing in our team, systems, and governance. We moved our legal home to Denmark and reviewed our alignment with the POSI Principles. All this ensures that DOAJ remains a stable, independent, community-led organisation capable of serving the sector for the long term.
Shaping the strategy: in partnership with the community
As an essential open scholarly infrastructure, DOAJ’s strategy needs to reflect the priorities and perspectives of the communities we serve. We developed the strategy after discussions with some of our key stakeholders and input from DOAJ’s Board and our newly established Advisory Board. These groups bring together global expertise from research, libraries, publishing, regional open access initiatives, and infrastructure governance to ensure that our plans are ambitious, realistic, and responsive to the needs of the community.
Looking ahead: our 2026–28 strategy
Our new strategy reflects both continuity and change: a clear sense of DOAJ’s unique role as a core open infrastructure, relied on for its core services of quality assurance and open metadata, while recognising the need to focus our efforts where they can have the greatest impact. We’re looking forward to sharing more with the community as we move into this next phase of our work.
Theme 1: Extend our Coverage
We will be the most comprehensive and trusted index of quality open access journals worldwide, ensuring that scholarship from all regions, languages, and publishing traditions is visible, discoverable, and valued.
Our goals for 2028
- The number of journals in DOAJ from no-fee models and from underrepresented regions increases to reflect the reality of diverse global scholarship.
- Metadata from DOAJ is seamlessly integrated into the majority of global discovery, assessment, and research infrastructure systems.
- Applying to DOAJ is accessible and equitable, with multilingual guidance and support for smaller and emerging publishers.
How we will deliver:
- Expand the ambassador programme, tailoring outreach to the specific needs and priorities of each region.
- Strengthen capacity in new regions through partnerships with local scholarly communities, Diamond OA initiatives and regional infrastructures.
- Invest in technology to improve internal editorial processes, application turnaround, and metadata enrichment.
- Enhance and maintain metadata quality and interoperability to ensure maximum uptake by other systems and discovery tools.
- Build capacity and systems for sustainable growth and community engagement.
Theme 2: Champion Open Access Journals
We will be the leading advocate for quality open access journals, ensuring that DOAJ-listed journals are recognised, respected, and used in research assessment, policy, and funding decisions worldwide.
Our goals for 2028:
- Policymakers, funders, and institutions regard DOAJ as a trust marker and the authoritative reference for OA journal quality, integrity and inclusion and recognise our journals in their OA policies.
- Our advocacy is informed by the perspectives of journal editors and publishers.
- Diamond OA journals are visible, supported, and valued in global policy and assessment contexts.
How we will deliver:
- Engage with policymakers and funders to advocate for DOAJ-listed journals.
- Participate actively in global and regional OA initiatives to shape policy and strengthen publishing capacity, particularly in underserved contexts.
- Showcase the impact and diversity of DOAJ-index journals and their communities in our communications.
- Collaborate with regional networks to amplify perspectives from across global scholarly communities.
Theme 3: Lead the Development of Global Quality Standards
We will uphold trust in scholarly publishing by setting and stewarding the world’s most recognised and inclusive quality standard for open access journals, co-created with the scholarly community and responsive to the diversity of publishing models.
Our goals for 2028:
- DOAJ’s quality criteria are recognised as a trusted benchmark, complementing regional standards and offering a community-governed alternative to commercial indexes and impact factors.
- Our standard is widely adopted, influencing journal evaluation in other indexes, repositories, and funder systems.
- Continuous community consultation ensures our standard remains rigorous, equitable, and reflective of diverse publishing traditions and evolving open science practices.
How we will deliver:
- Co-develop and maintain DOAJ’s quality standard through inclusive global consultation
- Align and integrate our standards with other trusted initiatives and frameworks in scholarly publishing.
- Provide practical guidance, resources and training to help journals understand, meet, and maintain our standard, tailored to different publishing contexts and capacities.
Cross-cutting commitments
- Sustainability: Ensure DOAJ’s financial and organisational model supports long-term stability and resilience, and that we align our activities with available capacity, focusing our resources where they have the most impact.
- Community Governance: Embed transparency and inclusivity in our decision-making, with representation from our diverse global community.
- Collaboration: Work in partnerships with infrastructures and networks to maximise impact rather than duplicate efforts.
- Equity & Inclusion: Actively support bibliodiversity, multilingualism, and equitable participation from all regions, languages, and publishing traditions.
We are committed to keeping our community up to date with progress against our new strategy, and will shortly share our plans for 2026, which align with these goals.
