Lancaster University Library is pleased to announce the launch of a new service to host open access journals managed by Lancaster University's academic community.

Lancaster University Open Journals is a free platform that supports a variety of publication types including peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and other publications.

We have developed this service to make it possible and easy for colleagues who wish to develop scholar-led open access journals to host their publications and manage their journal workflows on the platform for free. The service removes the need for colleagues to pay expensive annual subscription fees (usually between £1200 to £1500) for hosting services and ensures their long-term preservation without the need to continuously find sources of funding.

The service uses Open Journal Systems (OJS) software, an open-source platform developed by the Public Knowledge Project. OJS is the world’s most widely used end-to-end scholarly publishing platform. The platform allows journal editors to manage the entire publishing workflow from submission to online publication on a single platform. Articles and issues published on the platform can be indexed in global discovery services like Google Scholar, Crossref, and DOAJ.

All Lancaster University staff can submit a proposal to host a journal on the platform. Journals using the service must be approved by the library and adhere to open access principles and policies, including copyright retention for authors, Creative Commons licensing, and procedures for handling third-party material and takedown requests.

The library’s Open Research team will support academics in setting up their journals on the platform and provide guidance on planning and managing a journal, such as minting DOIs.

Find out more about the Lancaster University Open Journals Platform here.

Funding to support Scholar Led Open Access Journals

Grants of up to £1000 are available through the Library to support scholar led-open access journals run by Lancaster University Staff, including journals that are not hosted on the Lancaster University Open Journals platform.

This funding for these grants comes from the University's Enhancing Research Culture fund, which is externally funded by Research England. Up to £1000 per journal can be claimed to use on expenses for new or existing journals such as (but not exclusive to); web design, launch events, or marketing. Find out more here.