Those that wish to have their journal included in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) must complete an application form, meet DOAJ’s criteria, and be accepted to the DOAJ. This guide provides information for journals using Open Journal Systems (OJS) on how to represent and link to information in OJS that is relevant for DOAJ inclusion and the DOAJ application.
The DOAJ Indexing for OJS Journals webinar hosted by PKP in May 2023 goes over the key considerations in meeting DOAJ inclusion requirements:
DOAJ is a directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. Open access journals from all countries and in all languages can apply for inclusion. There is no cost for journals to apply or be listed in DOAJ. The service aims to raise the reputation and visibility of open access journals from around the world. For more details on benefits for journals, see (Why Index Your Journal in DOAJ?)
Are you ready? Your journal must:
See the DOAJ’s Guide to Applying for a full list of DOAJ’s basic criteria for inclusion.
This section will help you to complete the DOAJ application for your OJS journal. You will be required to register an account with basic information (a name and email address) in order to use the online form.
All of the questions must be answered in order for the application to be complete; however, some of the questions encourage best practice and are not required for acceptance to DOAJ. You can save your form’s progress and return to complete it at a later date if needed.
This list of items was adapted from the Library Publishing Coalition’s How-To Guide for Library Publishers: Directory of Open Access Journals Application.
This guide was most recently updated to include guidance and paths for OJS 3.3+.
This guide includes advice on (1) where to enter relevant information in OJS and, (2) where relevant information appears publicly on your OJS site.
If you are looking for further explanation on what the questions mean, please refer to the LPC Guide or the help text included alongside the online form.
Does the journal adhere to DOAJ’s definition of open access?
The DOAJ requires journals to adopt a form of Libre Open Access—a type of open access that not only removes price barriers to content but also relaxes limitations on users’ rights. The DOAJ recommends that copyright of articles be retained by authors, but will also accept journals where copyright is held in full or in part by the publisher, so long as articles are offered under an open license. Read more about DOAJ’s definition of open access.
The journal website must display its open access statement. Where can we find this information?
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
Journal Title
Alternative title (including the translation of the title) (optional)
Link to the journal’s homepage
Journal ISSN (print) (only add if you have one)
ISSN (online)
Up to 6 subject keywords in English
Languages in which the journal accepts manuscripts
Publisher’s name
Publisher’s country
Society or institution’s name and Society or institution’s country
License(s) permitted by the journal
For more information see the Creative Commons page on licenses and Journal Policies and Workflows: Creative Commons Licenses.
Where can we find this information?
Does the journal embed and/or display licensing information in its articles?
For all the licenses you have indicated above, do authors retain the copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions?
Where can we find this information?
DOAJ only accepts peer-reviewed journals. Which type(s) of peer review does this journal use?
The type of review must be clearly labeled and described. “Editorial Review” is only valid for journals in Arts or Humanities. Non-humanities journals may not use this option with the DOAJ. For more on different review types, see Learning OJS: Editorial Workflow - Understanding Different Types of Review
Where can we find this information?
Does the journal routinely screen article submissions for plagiarism?
Where can we find this information?
Link to the journal’s Aims & Scope
Link to the journal’s Editorial board
Link to the journal’s Instructions for Authors
Average number of weeks between article submission & publication
Does the journal charge fees for publishing an article (APCs)?
Where can we find this information?
DOAJ requires that you include information about charges even if they are zero.
Does the journal provide a waiver or discount on publication fees for authors?
Where can we find this information? (If Yes)
Does the journal charge any other fees to authors?
Where can we find this information? (If Yes)
DOAJ recommends adoption of the following best practices, but these are not required for inclusion in DOAJ.
Long-term preservation service(s) where the journal is currently archived
Institutional archives and publishers’ own online archives are not valid.
Where can we find this information? (If Archived)
Does the journal have a policy allowing authors to deposit versions of their work in an institutional or other repository of their choice? Where is this policy recorded?
Where can we find this information? (If existing policy)
Persistent article identifiers used by the journal
OJS can generate DOIs as part of the metadata and allows deposit of those DOIs directly to CrossRef, DataCite, or mEDRA (with respective membership) . See the DOI Plugin Guide and the Crossref OJS Manual for more details on how to set up DOIs in OJS.
Does the journal allow for ORCID iDs to be present in article metadata?
Does the journal comply with I4OC standards for open citations?
For journals following best practice in OA publishing. Read more about the DOAJ Seal
During the application process, you can be awarded the DOAJ SEAL if these 7 criteria are all met. A journal can be indexed in the DOAJ without meeting the DOAJ seal requirements.
This demonstrates that the journal ensures the long-term availability and preservation of published content for the future. The DOAJ will accept preservation service providers registered in the Keepers Registry (e.g., PKP PN LOCKSS/CLOCKSS. Portico, British Library, etc.), Internet Archive, and/or PubMed Central. Please note that institutional servers and repositories do not qualify as long term archival preservation.
See Learning OJS: Distribution Settings - Archiving for more details.
These ensure articles may continue to be found even when URLs change. The most common form of persistent identifier is the DOI (Digital Object Identifier), but there may be others in use for a journal.
OJS can generate DOIs as part of the metadata and allows deposit of those DOIs directly to CrossRef, DataCite, or mEDRA (with respective membership) . See the DOI Plugin Guide and the Crossref OJS Manual for more details on how to set up DOIs in OJS.
Provide greater visibility and discoverability of journal content by providing article-level metadata and links to the full text. Metadata must be provided to the DOAJ within 3 months via article-level xml metadata file uploaded to the DOAJ interface or by the DOAJ API.
You can use the OJS DOAJ Export Plugin at Tools > Import/Export > DOAJ Export Plugin. Read more about the DOAJ export plugin.
To learn more about creating metadata, see the Better Practices in Journal Metadata guide.
To allow for generous reuse and remixing of the content. The DOAJ Seal allows for 4 of the Creative Commons licenses: CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, CC-BY-NC, CC-BY-NC-SA. The DOAJ Seal does not consider any of the Creative Commons licenses that restrict remixing or the creation of derivative products of the published content (e.g. CC-BY-ND, CC-BY-NC-ND).
In OJS, when selecting the license to be embedded with the article metadata and displayed on its webpage, be certain to select one of the following license types: CC Attribution, CC Attribution-ShareAlike, or CC Attribution-Noncommercial. You can select it under Distribution Settings > License.
See Journal Policies and Workflows: Creative Commons Licenses for more details.
To ensure readers (users) know and understand what they are permitted to do with the content, license information must be embedded into each published article, in all its outputs - e.g. on the HTML article webpage, in the XML/metadata and PDF version.
OJS offers the Creative Commons license options that are acceptable for the DOAJ seal: CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, or CC BY-NC-SA. This license will be embedded in the metadata of published items and displayed on the item’s webpage. Select the Creative Commons license you will use in Distribution Settings > License.
See Journal Policies and Workflows: Where to add Copyright and Licensing Information in OJS for more details.
The DOAJ Seal expects journals to allow copyright to be retained by the author and not be transferred to the journal or publisher. The journal and publisher must not obtain exclusive publishing rights to the content. DOAJ Best Practice recommends the terms of any license agreement should be made freely available to clarify author rights and what, if anything, authors are required to sign when submitting to the journal.
In OJS you can select the designated copyright holder for the article metadata as the Author, Journal, or Other. To select the Author as the designated copyright holder, go to Distribution Settings > License > Copyright Holder.
See Journal Policies and Workflows: Copyright and Licensing for more details.
Provide information on authors’ self-archiving rights, which should cover their rights to self-archive preprint, accepted, final publisher versions of the article, usually in places like their own website or institutional repository. For the Seal, authors must be permitted to deposit all versions of their paper in an institutional or subject repository and no embargo can be applied. DOAJ prefers a policy to be listed on services like SHERPA/RoMEO.
In OJS, enter the journal’s Author Self-Archiving Policy on your About page or under Author Guidelines or as part of the Copyright Statement. Read more at Journal Policies and Workflows: Self-Archiving Policies.
If you have upgraded from OJS 2 to OJS 3 after your DOAJ application was accepted, you will need to do the following:
Copyright: Simon Fraser University holds the copyright for work produced by the Public Knowledge Project and has placed its documentation under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
