On August 1, 2021, the academic journal Karib – Nordic Journal for Caribbean Studies ceased its publication, marking the end of a key resource for scholars and researchers in Caribbean studies. However, the journal’s rich contributions to the field will not be lost. Thanks to the efforts of JASPER, a collaboration between, among others, the CLOCKSS Archive and DOAJ, Karib‘s complete archive has been made accessible to the public, ensuring its ongoing availability to global readers.
Karib became part of the CLOCKSS preservation network through the JASPER initiative, which was launched on World Preservation Day in 2020. JASPER’s founding partners (CLOCKSS, DOAJ, Internet Archive, Keepers Registry and PKP) came together in response to published research that showed how journals sometimes disappear offline taking any published content with them. To date, JASPER is helping to preserve 60 Diamond, open access journals with more journals applying every month.
Dom Mitchell, Deputy Director of DOAJ, said: ‘The news that JASPER has been able to stop a journal disappearing from the Web completely is a bittersweet pill: the loss of a journal is always poignant but that the published content is still available online thanks to JASPER is a huge win for the scientific community.’
All too often, the websites of journals that cease publication stop being maintained, leading to security threats and link rot. Usually, DOAJ would remove any journals that cease publication in an attempt to stop its service becoming filled with broken article links. However, thanks to preservation efforts, DOAJ was able to update the journal’s entry with links to the preserved content (accessible at CLOCKSS). Together we facilitate both discovery of and access to the content for users which means that the journal and its articles will continue to be distributed in aggregator and discovery systems globally.
Gaelle Bequet from Keepers Registry/ISSN International Centre said: ‘The example of Karib magazine perfectly illustrates the challenge addressed by JASPER and its participants. By permanently archiving this publication, CLOCKSS enables the DOAJ to maintain the reference to this resource in its database, for the benefit of thousands of libraries and researchers around the world!’
CLOCKSS is a vital initiative designed to ensure that scholarly content is preserved long-term, even when it becomes unavailable from its original publisher or host. When a journal is no longer published, CLOCKSS is empowered to “trigger” the content, making it accessible under an open access license. Researchers, students, and readers worldwide can continue to access the journal’s full-text content, ensuring that the wealth of knowledge contained within remains part of the scholarly record.
Karib was founded with the mission of creating a dedicated space for scholarly work on the Caribbean—a region often overlooked in broader academic discourse. The journal’s significance lies not only in its academic rigour but also in its commitment to addressing the unique complexities of Caribbean history, culture, and identity. Throughout its publication, Karib brought together diverse perspectives from scholars around the world, highlighting the multidisciplinarity that is key to understanding the Caribbean’s complex dynamics. From its first issue, the journal became an important platform for Caribbean literature, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, history, and sociology. It tackled topics ranging from the impacts of colonialism and slavery to contemporary issues such as migration, diasporic identity, and environmental challenges facing Caribbean nations.
The closure of Karib might have left many wondering about the fate of its content. In an age when scholarly content can just disappear from the web, initiatives like JASPER, CLOCKSS and DOAJ ensure that knowledge remains accessible to everyone, forever. By ensuring Karib remains open access and discoverable, JASPER is not only protecting the contributions of academic authors and the journal’s integrity, but also extending its reach to future readers.
You can now read Karib’s full archive at the following locations:
CLOCKSS Archive – Karib Journal
DOAJ – Karib Journal
