We have listened to and consulted with the community and, as a result, we have removed a restriction in order to avoid unjustly penalising reputable journals.
In November 2023, we announced new criteria for inclusion in DOAJ relating to the publication of special issues. We were pleased that community feedback on the new criteria was generally positive as a step towards ensuring that all special issues are published with adequate editorial oversight.
However, it was noted by several commentators that one aspect of the new policy could have unintended consequences for some journals, specifically:
‘DOAJ will not accept a journal if all content in the last year/volume is published as special issues.’
In the humanities and social sciences, it is an established model for some journals exclusively to publish thematic issues under guest editors. These journals are often scholar-led and diamond open access. DOAJ has no wish to exclude such journals from the index, so we have listened to and consulted with the community. As a result, we have removed this restriction in order to avoid unjustly penalising reputable journals following this publishing model. All other aspects of the new policy remain in place.
(The version number of the Guide to applying has been bumped to Version 2.2.)
