{"id":7495,"date":"2025-12-18T01:47:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T01:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/?p=7495"},"modified":"2025-12-18T08:53:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T08:53:12","slug":"amplifying-indigenous-voices-sami-scientific-journal-included-in-doaj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/2025\/12\/18\/amplifying-indigenous-voices-sami-scientific-journal-included-in-doaj\/","title":{"rendered":"Amplifying Indigenous Voices: S\u00e1mi Scientific Journal included in DOAJ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>In May 2025, <strong>S\u00e1mi die\u0111ala\u0161 \u00e1ige\u010d\u00e1la (S\u00e1mi Scientific Journal)<\/strong> was included in DOAJ and is the only scholarly journal publishing exclusively in S\u00e1mi. <strong>Editor-in-chief, Harald Gaski <\/strong>provides some information about the journal and the value of supporting and amplifying Indigenous voices.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6\"]{font-style:normal;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6 mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6 img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<h4 class=\"kt-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading7495_c99280-a6\"><strong><strong>S\u00e1mi people<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/septentrio.uit.no\/index.php\/SDA\/index\"><em>S\u00e1mi die\u0111ala\u0161 \u00e1ige\u010d\u00e1la<\/em> (SD\u00c1)<\/a>, published by <a href=\"https:\/\/septentrio.uit.no\/\">Septentrio Academic Publishing<\/a>, is to my knowledge the only academic journal in the world exclusively published in an Indigenous language \u2013 the S\u00e1mi language. The S\u00e1mi are the Indigenous people of the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola peninsula in Russia (for more information see the Saami Council <a href=\"http:\/\/www.saamicouncil.net\/en\/home\/\">https:\/\/www.saamicouncil.net\/en\/home\/<\/a>). The total population is difficult to decide, since the definition of who is S\u00e1mi is primarily based on self-identity in addition to some basic criteria for qualifying to be part of the census, which in turn decides voting rights for the S\u00e1mi parliaments in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. An estimate is between 50,000 and 100,000 S\u00e1mi. The S\u00e1mi parliaments have a limited degree of self-determination in cultural and educational matters, but primarily are consultative bodies for the national authorities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One issue of importance for S\u00e1mi educational politics is to support the continued existence of the S\u00e1mi languages \u2013 of which nine still exist today. The languages have been under threat because of assimilation policies from the nation states. The idea is that S\u00e1mi should be able to use their language from pre-school, through primary and secondary education, and through to university, including writing PhD dissertations in S\u00e1mi. Several people have already received their doctorates in S\u00e1mi language and literature, which currently is the only program in Norway, Sweden, and Finland fulfilling the national criteria for PhD education in S\u00e1mi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">S\u00e1mi die\u0111ala\u0161 \u00e1ige\u010d\u00e1la (SD\u00c1)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to provide a medium for scholarly publications in S\u00e1mi, <em>S\u00e1mi die\u0111ala\u0161 \u00e1ige\u010d\u00e1la<\/em> (SD\u00c1) was established as a collaborative project between S\u00e1mi allaskuvla (<a href=\"https:\/\/samas.no\/en\">The S\u00e1mi University of Applied Sciences<\/a>) and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.uit.no\/startsida\">UiT \u2013 The Arctic University in Norway<\/a>. It is a Diamond open access journal publishing since 1994, and online since 2013. In its early years, the journal mainly published articles within the field with established concepts and terminology in S\u00e1mi, i.e., S\u00e1mi language and literary studies. During the consolidation period of the journal, the editors began to invite other disciplines to contribute to the building up of S\u00e1mi as a scientific language with a broader scope. Thus, <em>S\u00e1mi die\u0111ala\u0161 \u00e1ige\u010d\u00e1la<\/em> over the last few years has extended its portfolio to include social sciences, law, and humanities disciplines other than languages and literature, in a trans-disciplinary approach reflecting a holistic view represented in Indigenous cultures.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image7495_249d24-43 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image7495_249d24-43\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-medium_large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"529\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-Cover-2024-768x529.jpg\" alt=\"SD\u00c1 Cover page: 2024 special issue on Siidaskuvla\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-7502\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-Cover-2024-768x529.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-Cover-2024-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-Cover-2024-1024x705.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-Cover-2024-1536x1058.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-Cover-2024-2048x1410.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-Cover-2024-18x12.jpg 18w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption>SD\u00c1 Cover page: 2024 special issue on Siidaskuvla<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I have been Editor-in-chief for the past five years (2020-2025), and I\u2019m currently in the process of stepping down for retirement. During my editorship, the journal has undergone significant changes regarding how to professionalise SD\u00c1 to meet the requirements and standards for being an open access scientific journal engaged in best practice internationally. <a href=\"https:\/\/doaj.org\/toc\/1894-0498\">SD\u00c1 is now indexed in DOAJ<\/a>, and as such is hoping for enhanced visibility, even though the readership may continue to be low, given the linguistic limitation of the journal when only publishing articles originally written in S\u00e1mi. The keywords and abstracts in English have increased the number of people who visit the journal\u2019s website &#8211; an indication of a growing interest in S\u00e1mi and Indigenous studies. SD\u00c1 seems to have genuine readers from all over the world, which is an interesting (fun) fact.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SD\u00c1 is open to everyone who writes S\u00e1mi well enough at the required academic level, and the journal also provides some resources for contributors who need assistance in finding \u2013 or developing \u2013 the correct terms and concepts within topics and subjects that are still lacking sufficient professional terminology in S\u00e1mi. Thus, SD\u00c1 is an active part of the endeavor to improve and develop the opportunity to write and publish scholarly material in a chosen S\u00e1mi language. So far, SD\u00c1 has published articles in three S\u00e1mi languages, of which the highest percentage is within North S\u00e1mi, which also represents the majority of the S\u00e1mi-speaking people (almost 3\/4 of the total population).<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image7495_8c3e5f-c0 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image7495_8c3e5f-c0\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-rollup_-sam-ja-eng-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Two Journal banners SD\u00c1\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-7497\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-rollup_-sam-ja-eng-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-rollup_-sam-ja-eng-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-rollup_-sam-ja-eng-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-rollup_-sam-ja-eng-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-rollup_-sam-ja-eng-9x12.jpg 9w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SDA-rollup_-sam-ja-eng.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><figcaption>Journal banners SD\u00c1<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>SD\u00c1 has started to publish articles written by PhD students as part of their article-based dissertations. This type of activity demands extra resources from the journal, as the editors and external peer reviewers become additional advisers to the candidate. The editorial team has \u2013 at least so far \u2013 decided to continue this practice as the opportunities for getting scholarly articles published in S\u00e1mi are represented more or less only by SD\u00c1. In this manner, the S\u00e1mi academic community includes new voices and the PhD students and candidates are great ambassadors for the journal. Being a Diamond open access journal also makes it easier for readers all over the world to access the published articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">DOAJ as an indexer of global knowledge<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>As Editor-in-chief of S\u00e1mi die\u0111ala\u0161 \u00e1ige\u010d\u00e1la I am very happy for the journal to be included in DOAJ. It is a great achievement for the journal and it is my contention that it is also something to be proud of for DOAJ to include more Indigenous scholarly journals. Some people may wonder if there is a sufficient critical mass of peer reviewers for a journal like SD\u00c1, but in my five years as Editor-in-chief I have never had a problem finding well-qualified peer reviewers. There are many researchers who read S\u00e1mi excellently, but who still are reluctant to write scholarly articles themselves in S\u00e1mi. My mission has been to get these people to submit articles to the journal themselves. To my satisfaction, several of them have volunteered to serve as peer reviewers, which I am very grateful for, as this opens up ever-so-important communication between Indigenous scholars and our non-Indigenous colleagues, who are knowledgeable about what\u2019s going on in the Indigenous research world, and who support it by giving good advice and necessary critical feedback to the article authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is my hope that DOAJ will continue to keep their eyes open to the possibility of including more Indigenous journals into their register, as they have done with SD\u00c1. I also want to extend my gratitude to the current publisher, Septentrio Academic Publishing, for their support and resilience in convincing the SD\u00c1 editors of the necessity to apply for inclusion in DOAJ, and simultaneously for their strong advocacy with the DOAJ assessment committee for why it is important for academia as a whole to open up for Indigenous partnership in the global venture of advanced scholarly publication opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The future challenge for SD\u00c1 is to continue to prove its legitimacy to remain in the DOAJ register, which provides international recognition and opportunities for continued fruitful collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image7495_761c16-eb .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image7495_761c16-eb\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Harald-Gaski--300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Phot of Harald Gaski\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-7498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Harald-Gaski--300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Harald-Gaski--1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Harald-Gaski--768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Harald-Gaski--1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Harald-Gaski--2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Harald-Gaski--18x12.jpg 18w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>Harald Gaski. Photo by H\u00e5kon Mudenia, Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). Photo used with permission.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Harald Gaski<\/strong> was born and grew up on the river Deatnu\/Tana in S\u00e1pmi, Norway. Gaski is an author, editor, and a professor in S\u00e1mi literature at S\u00e1mi allaskuvla\/S\u00e1mi University of Applied Sciences in Norway. Prior to his position at S\u00e1mi allaskuvla, he served for more than 30 years at UiT \u2013 the Arctic University of Norway. Gaski\u2019s research specialises on S\u00e1mi culture and literature, both oral and written, S\u00e1mi worldview and values, aesthetics and Indigenous critical studies. He was instrumental in establishing S\u00e1mi literature as an academic field from the mid 1980s onward. Gaski has translated S\u00e1mi literature and Nils-Aslak Valkeap\u00e4\u00e4\u2019s poetry into Norwegian and English. His most recent book is the trilingual Vuoi\u014b\u014bala\u0161vuohta \u2013 Samisk \u00e5ndelighet \u2013 An Essay on the S\u00e1mi People&#8217;s Spiritual Connection to Land from 2025. Worth mentioning is also his anthology of S\u00e1mi literature, published in 2020, titled Myths, Tales and Poetry from Four Centuries of S\u00e1mi Literature. His first book is from 1987, Med ord skal tyvene fordrives, an account and analysis of narrative juoigan (S\u00e1mi folk music) texts. Gaski has been a visiting scholar at several universities internationally. He served on the International Research Advisory Panel of New Zealand\u2019s M\u0101ori Centre of Research Excellence at Auckland University for 10 years (2006-2015).&nbsp; In 2006 he was the recipient of the The Nordic S\u00e1mi Language Prize, Gollegiella, and in 2024 he was awarded an honorary doctorate at Ume\u00e5 university in Sweden.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>DOAJ sincerely thanks Professor Harald Gaski for this post and wishes him a very happy retirement!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In May 2025, S\u00e1mi die\u0111ala\u0161 \u00e1ige\u010d\u00e1la (S\u00e1mi Scientific Journal) was included in DOAJ and is the only scholarly journal publishing exclusively in S\u00e1mi. Editor-in-chief, Harald Gaski provides some information about the journal and the value of supporting and amplifying Indigenous voices. S\u00e1mi people S\u00e1mi die\u0111ala\u0161 \u00e1ige\u010d\u00e1la (SD\u00c1), published by Septentrio Academic Publishing, is to my&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":378,"featured_media":5685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[615,619],"tags":[176,1291,591,369,1290],"class_list":["post-7495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-post","category-open-access","tag-diamond-open-access","tag-indigenous","tag-journal-stories","tag-open-access","tag-sami"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/378"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7495"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7514,"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7495\/revisions\/7514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}