... [A]ccording to data from the [Directory of Open Access Journals]’s new titles page, roughly the same number of journals were added each year from 2003-2007. To date, 2008 is a significant increase over previous years; if the growth rate from the first 10 months of the year holds for the last 2, it’ll be nearly a 50% increase. [Click here to see the chart.]
Year
# of titles added
2002
26
2003
577
2004
602
2005
618
2006
549
2007
598
2008 (to date)
727
2008 (projected)
872
... Assuming the data’s accurate, I wonder why: are more journals being submitted for inclusion, or are more journals meeting DOAJ’s selection criteria (e.g. to have an ISSN), or are there simply more journals in existence?
Update. See also Heather Morrison's comments highlighting some of the potential factors in interpreting the data.
Posted by
Gavin Baker at 10/19/2008 10:18:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
