An overview of open access journal publishing in Sri Lanka with special reference to SLJOL project

Abstract

Open Access (OA) is seen as an unprecedented opportunity by developing countries in addressing issues related to publishing scholarly research findings and providing free access to them. Objective of the study is to present an introductory overview of the OA journal publishing movement in Sri Lanka. The study is based on a literature survey and secondary data collected from local and international directories and listing services (i.e., SLJOL, DOAJ,) that either host and/or provide authoritative lists of OA journals. Collected data were processed and analyzed using MS-Excel spreadsheet, are presented through tables and graphs. The study findings reveal that one hundred and thirty-one (131) OA journals are published in Sri Lanka on Sri Lanka Journals Online (SLJOL) platform. Further, the study found that academic institutes publish most of the OA journals (55%), followed by professional associations (36%) and research institutes (4%). As far as the subject-wise distribution is concerned, Science, Technology, and Medicine (STM) filed dominates the OA journal publishing with 58.01 % journals fall under the category. Among them, medicine and health sciences have the highest percentage of journals (55.26%), followed by natural and physical sciences (23.68%) and agriculture (21.05%) journals. Highest number of medical and health journals (78.57%) are published by professional associations whereas the vast majority of (78.04%) social sciences and humanities journals (including journals on management studies) are published by academic institutes. Vast majority (70.99%) Sri Lankan OA journals are published biannually. This study recommends measures for Sri Lankan OA journals to reap the benefits of OA publishing including publishing as a continuous volume and issue throughout the year irrespective of the frequency of their print counterpart, securing regular financial support from the government of Sri Lanka is necessary for the sustainability of OA journals published in Sri Lanka, and establishing strong OA policies and OA mandates at institutional and national level.