Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large
ISSN 1534-0937
Libraries · Policy · Technology · Media


Selection from Cites & Insights 6, Number 12: October 2006


Open Access Perspective, Part II

Pioneer OA Journals:
Preliminary Additions from DOAJ

Part I of this Perspective updates an investigation based on ARL’s 1995 directory. Did that directory cover the known universe? Certainly not—maybe not even close. I don’t know of any sure way to find all other ejournals that began before 1996 and ceased before 2006, or of any way to develop a comprehensive list of OA as of 1995—but it is possible to locate open-access scholarly journals that claim a pre-1996 start date and still publish: DOAJ, the Directory of Open Access Journals.

Checking during the first two weeks of September, I found 189 additional journals in DOAJ with dates of 1995 or earlier. I list those journals below—but it’s not as simple as saying “229 scholarly journals started providing open access by 1995 and are still publishing.” That would be wonderful, but I’m nearly certain it’s not true:

     Some of these journals don’t offer full OA: They retain copyright restrictions that restrict downloading and copying articles.

     Some don’t have full-text archives dating back to 1995.

     Some have full-text archives dating back to 1995 or before, but began offering online access in 1996 or later (some as recently as 2005), and say so on the website.

     Some have strong indications on the website that OA began in 1996 or later—for example, earlier articles are PDFs that are clearly scanned copies of print articles. I would guess most SCIELO journals fall into this category, since SCIELO apparently began operations in 1998.

     Quite a few are indeterminate: I couldn’t conclude whether they were actually available online in 1995.

Several of these began long before 1995 as print journals; that’s also true of a few of the journals in Part I. A print journal that started providing online free access in 1995 is still a pioneer in OA, even if it’s not technically a pioneer ejournal.

The list that follows includes all 189 journals. I provide some details, including country of publication for most journals not published in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, or Australia. At the end of each description is my bracketed conclusion or opinion as to whether or not the journal was online and OA by the end of 1995, as follows:

     [Not OA]: This journal doesn’t qualify as open access even by my loose definition, or at least didn’t in 1995.

     [-]: I’m reasonably certain that this journal was not available in full-text form online prior to 1996, either because the website says so or based on internal evidence. I could be wrong.

     [+]: I’m reasonably certain that this is a pioneer—that articles were available in full-text form online by the end of 1995. I usually offer more detail on publication patterns for these cases.

     [?]: Unclear based on the evidence of the website, or because I couldn’t reach or navigate the website.

This is a preliminary list. I welcome email (waltcrawford@gmail.com) from sources who can verify that a journal did (or did not) begin full-text open access in 1995 or earlier. I’ll run clarifications and corrections on Walt at Random and as a followup in a future issue. If there are enough clarifications, I’ll redo this list.

I also checked NewJour archives for these titles, but only on a positive basis—if an ejournal that was questionable, not findable, or appeared to have started online life later than 1995 was cited in a NewJour posting from 1995 or before, I accept that citation as sufficient evidence. I have not used NewJour as negative evidence: There are several reasons why a journal with OA access in 1995 doesn’t have a 1995-or-earlier NewJour posting to that effect.

“Claims” dates are from DOAJ. “Founded” dates are from website information or by subtracting years based on the first online volume number.

A-B

Abstract and Applied Analysis. Claims 1995, but actually began in 1996. [-]

Acimed. Founded 1993. Cuba. 1993-1996 and 1998-2000: 3/yr; 1997, 2001: 4/yr; 2002-2004: 6/yr; 2005: 5. Typically 2-6 articles and other features in each issue. Full archive back to 1993. [+]

Across the Disciplines. Claims 1994. Actually founded 2004 as a merger between two earlier journals, one founded 2000, one founded 1994 (see Language and Learning Across the Disciplines). [-]

Acta Biológica Paranaense. Brazil. Founded 1972. One issue per year, substantial number of articles. Full archives back to 1972. [?]

Acta geographica Slovenica. Slovenia. Founded 1961. 1995-2002: one issue per year, 3-5 articles (8 in 2001); 2003-2005: 2 issues/year, 8-9 articles. OA archives back to 1995. [?]

Acta Mathematica Universitatis Comenianae. Slovak Republic. Founded 1931. Two issues per year, 12-14 articles per issue in samples checked. OA archives back to 1991. [?]

Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica. China. Founded 1951. 2-4 issues per year, 1951-1976; 4 issues per year, 1976-1983; six issues per year since 1984; each issue has quite a few articles. Full archives back to 1951. [?]

Aestimum. Italy. Founded 1977. 2 issues per year. Not fully Open Access: allows online “previews” after clumsy registration, using tricky page preview applet. Charges for downloads. [Not OA]

African Population Studies. OA since 1994 (some volumes). 117 articles in 14 issues (varying frequency) between 1994 and 2005; none 1998-2001. OA archive back to 1994. [+]

Agroalimentaria (Caracas). Venezuela. Founded 1995. 22 issues since 1995, typically 6-10 articles per issue plus reviews, etc. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Alaska Fishery Research Bulletin. Became 2x/year journal in 1994, OA since 1995. Substantial number of articles organized by topic rather than strict chronology. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

Anales de Psicología. Spain. DOAJ says 1990. Print journal began 1984, OA only back to 1999 (and requires registration). [-]

The Annual of Urdu Studies. Founded 1981. Site indicates that online availability began 2001. 21 volumes in 26 years (including every year since 1991) with substantial mix of articles, fiction and other features. OA archive back to 1981. [-]

AntePodium. Founded 1995. No apparent issues or chronological archive. Sixteen articles between 1995 and 2002, with nothing newer. [+]

Anthropoetics, The Journal of Generative Anthropology. Founded 1995, apparently OA from the beginning. Twice a year since spring/summer 1995; usually four articles per issue. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Anuário do Instituto de Geociências. Brazil. Founded 1977. Annual until 2004, now two issues per year. Substantial number of articles. OA archive back to 1977. [?]

Apeiron: studies in infinite nature. Founded 1987. Growing but slightly erratic publication pattern 1987-2000 (two to four issues per year), quarterly since 2001. Extensive content. OA archive back to 1987. [?]

Archivum Mathematicum. Founded 1965? NewJour indicates OA as of 1995. Quarterly, many articles in each issue. Archive (in .ps format) back to 1992. [+]

Arte, Individuo y Sociedad. Spain. Founded 1988 in print. Annual, with quite a few articles per issue (around 120 articles to date). Archive back to 1988, some PDFs are scanned copies of print pages. [?]

Atlantis. Spain. Founded 1979. Twice a year, regularly; hundreds of articles and features. Full archive back to 1979. [?]

Atmosfera. Mexico. Founded 1988. Quarterly. Typically four articles per issue. Full archive back to 1988. [?]

Australian Prescriber. Founded 1975. Apparently online since 1994. Quarterly 1994-1998; six issues per year since 1999. Relatively few formal articles, many drug reviews and other features. Archive back to 1994. [+]

Bilingual Research Journal. Founded 1977? Internal evidence suggests online either 1992 or 1997. 1992: 2/14; 1993: 2/14; 1994: 2/13; 1995: 3/37; 1996: 3/24; 1997: 3/19; 1998: 2/16; 1999: 3/24; 2000: 3/26; 2001: 3/27;l 2002: 3/35; 2003: 3/24; 2004: 3/20; 2005: 3/35; [2006: 1/11]. Archive back to 1992. [+]

Biodiversity Science. China. Founded 1993, apparently OA from the start. 1993: 1/18; 1994: 5/61; 1995: 5/62; 1996: 5/52; 1997: 4/57; 1998: 4/49; 1999: 4/56; 2000: 4/64; 2001: 4/72; 2002: 4/61; 2003: 6/69; 2004: 6/79; 2005: 6/66; [2006: 4/44]. Full archive back to 1993. [+]

Bioscene. Founded 1975. Six-month embargo before online availability. [Not OA]

Biotechnology and Development Monitor. Netherlands. Magazine, not journal; most articles paid contributions, not apparently refereed. Online without copyright from 1994 to 2003. Ceased, replaced by new subscription periodical with different name. [Not OA]

C-E

CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Founded 1960? HTML access beginning 2001. Six issues per year, several refereed articles and substantial additional content per issue. Very high impact factor. OA archive back to 1990. [-]

Cadernos de Saúde Pública. Brazil. Founded 1985. HTML since 2001. Quarterly 1985-2000, six issues/year 2001-2005, monthly 2006. Sampled issues have 10-30 articles each, plus other material: Clearly strong and growing. Full archive back to 1990. [?]

Canadian Bulletin of Medical History. Founded 1984. Two issues/year; typically 20 to 36 articles per year through 2000, with as many as 52 articles per year since. Full archive back to 1984. [?]

Canadian Journal of Surgery. Claims 1994. Founded 1957? Online access to full text of articles did not begin until 2000; 1994-1999 archive not full text. [-]

Cancer Control. Founded 1994, online access beginning 1995 (free in both print and online form). Typically six issues per year, substantial number of articles in sampled issues. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

The Cato Journal. Founded 1981. Three issues per year, substantial number of articles per issue. Full archive back to 1981. [?]

Cervantes. Founded 1981. Typically two issues per year, substantial content (four to six articles, plus many reviews and theme articles). Full archive back to 1981. [?]

Chinese Journal of Physics. Taiwan. Founded 1963. two issues per year 1963-1975, four per year 1976-1987, variable (typically six+) since 1988. Significant number of refereed articles and other content in each issue. Full archive back to 1963. [?]

Chronic Diseases in Canada. Founded 1980?. Online material begins 1995. Quarterly, several articles and other material in each issue. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

CIC Cuadernos de Información y Comunicación. Spain. Founded 1995. Quarterly. 118 articles published to date. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Ciência Florestal. Brazil. Founded 1991. Annual 1991-1998, 2x/year 1999-2004, quarterly 1995-present. Dozens of articles in sampled issues. Full archive back to 1991. [?]

College Quarterly. DOAJ says 1993, but did not shift to online publication until 1997. [-]

Colombia Médica. Colombia. DOAJ says 1994. Founded 1970. Back-issue access does not work (yields empty-result Google search!); impossible to verify. [?]

Compendium. Revista de Investigación Cientifica. Venezuela. 1995. Full text not available until 2000. [-]

Computers in Higher Education Economics Review (CHEER). Founded 1989. Online since 1995 (some earlier articles available). 3x/year 1995-6, 2x/year 1997-2000, annual 2002, 2004, 2005. 82 papers (and other material) since 1995. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

Condensed Matter Physics. Ukraine. Founded 1993. 2x/year 1993-1996, quarterly since 1997; sample issues show 6-12 articles per issue in early years, 15-24 in recent years. Full archive back to 1993. [?]

Crosstalk, the Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Founded 1994. Monthly, with handful of articles in each issue and extensive other content. Full archive back to 1994. [+]

Current Research in Social Psychology (CRISP). Founded 1995 (originally plain ASCII). One issue per article; over 140 articles to date. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Current Science. India. Founded 1932. Does not appear to have gone online until 1999, although all back issues have been scanned and are available. (Monthly, with enormous content.) [-]

D-Lib Magazine. Founded 1995. Great stuff, but a magazine, not a journal: Solicited articles. [Not OA]

Dermatology Online Journal. Founded 1995. 28 issues since 1995, handful of original articles and other content in each issue. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Didáctica (Lengua y Literatura). Spain. Founded 1989. Annual: 17 issues and 118 articles to date. Full archive back to 1989. [?]

Divulgaciones Matemáticas. Founded 1993. Not fully available online until 1996. [-]

e-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology. Founded 1995 (without the “e-”). Published somewhat erratically, with twelve issues between 1995 and 2005, totaling 66 papers and “current practice papers.” Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Early Pregnancy: Biological and Medical. Claims 1995, but no full text found before 2000 or after early 2003. [-]

Ecología Austral. Argentina. Founded 1991. 2x/year since 1991, appears to have 20-30 articles per year? Full archive back to 1991. [?]

Edutec: Revista Electrónica de Tecnología Educativa. Spain. Founded 1995. 20 issues containing 64 articles since 1995. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

E.I.A.L., Estudios Interdisciplinarios de America Latina y el Caribe. Spanish (Israel?) Founded 1990. 2x/year since 1990. Varying but substantial number of articles and other content. Full archive back to 1990. [?]

Electronic Journal of Information Technology in Construction. Founded 1995 but published first article (of 177 to date) in 1996. [-]

Electronic Journal of Radical Organization Theory. Founded 1995. 13 issues with 44 papers (plus other content) between 1995 and 2005. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. Founded 1995. 35 issues and 37 papers (plus other contents) between 1995 and 2006. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Electronic Research Announcements of the American Mathematical Society. Founded 1995. 3x/year 1995-1996, “volumes” since 1997 (articles posted as accepted). Significant quantity of articles, 10-30 in sampled volumes. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Elore. Finland. Founded 1994. 2x/year since 1995. Clearly growing, with a few articles in each issue, more (perhaps 10+) in recent years. Full archive back to 1994. [+]

Environmental Health Perspectives. Founded 1993 as a monthly refereed-research publication (1972-1993 as proceedings). Several articles (and other content) per issue. Full archive back to 1972. [+]

Erfurt Electronic Studies in English. Germany. Founded 1995. Annual, 106 papers to date. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Especulo. Revista de Estudios Literarios. Spain. Founded 1995. 33 issues to date, with growing number of papers (e.g., 5 in #2, 9 in #8, 23 in #11, 27 in #15, 35 in #19, 60 in #24, 78 in #29). Full archive back to 1995. [+]

ETRI Journal. South Korea. Founded 1978? First PDF (as opposed to scan) availability) 1994. Quarterly, typically four to ten papers per issue (and other content). OA archive back to 1993. [+]

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics (EJAIB). Thailand. Founded 1990. Electronic access starting 1995. Six issues per year, substantial number of papers per issue. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

Eurosurveillance. Appears to be reporting rather than journal papers, at least in 1995. [-]

Experimental Animals. Japan. Founded 1952? Online archives begin 1995. Quarterly, typically 4 to 10 papers in each sampled issue. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

F-I

Financial Counseling and Planning. Founded 1990. Annual 1990-1996, 2x/year since. 7-12 papers per year 1990-1994, 13-18 since. Full archive back to 1990. [?]

Fizika B. Croatia. Full online access began in 1998. [-]

Florida Entomologist. Founded 1917. Online since 1994. Quarterly, appears to be >100 papers per year. OA access back to 1994. [+]

Future of Children. Founded 1991. 35 issues to date, substantial number of papers per issue. Solicited articles; refereed status unclear. Full archive back to 1991. [+]

Gazeta de Antropología. Spain. Founded 1982. Offered by year; 6-11 papers per year in 1980s (missing some years), 11-17 in 1990s, 21-40 per year in recent years. Full archive back to 1982. [?]

General and Applied Plant Physiology. Bulgaria. (Formerly The Bulgarian Journal of Plant Physiology.) Founded 1974? Online from 1995. Typically 10-20 papers per year. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

Genes and Genetic Systems. Japan. DOAJ says 1995, but online access began 1996 (digitized back to 1989). [-]

Geofizika. Croatia. DOAJ says 1989. Abstracts back to 1984; PDF for all articles 1986-7 and 1989-present. Typically 6-10 papers per year through 1992, 4-7 per year (or two-year period) since. OA archive back to 1989. [?]

IBM Journal of Research and Development. Founded 1957. Quarterly 1957-1964, 6x/year 1965-present, typically a dozen or more papers per issue. Full archive back to 1957. [+]

IBM Systems Journal. Founded 1962. Quarterly since 1964 (with some combined issues); sampled issues typically include 10-12 papers. Full archive back to 1962. [+]

Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology. India. Founded 1940. DOAJ indicates 1995 for online access. 6x/year, appears to have more than a hundred papers per year. OA archive back to 1990 (abstracts back to 1961). [+]

Information Bulletin on Variable Stars. Hungary. Founded 1961. Web access since 1994. One issue per paper; 1,624 papers since 1994. Full archive back to 1961 (5,724 papers in all), with OCR-based HTML for scanned papers prior to 1994. [+]

Information Research: an electronic journal. 1995. Quarterly, four to 10 or more papers per issue. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Interciencia. Venezuela. Founded 1976? Online since 1993?. 6x/year 1993-1999, 9x/2000, monthly 2001-2006. Prolific with substantial growth; more than a dozen papers and reports in recent sampled issues. OA archive back to 1993. [+]

Interdisciplinary Information Sciences. Japan. 1995. Twice yearly (most years), est.10-20 papers per year. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

International Family Planning Perspectives. Founded 1975. Online since 1995. Quarterly. Sampled issues have 4-6 papers per issue. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food. New Zealand. 1991. 13 volumes and 83 papers (plus substantial other content) since 1991. Full archives back to 1991. [+]

International Journal of Speleology. Italy. DOAJ shows 1964, but link doesn't work. Unable to find live website via Google. [?]

Interstat. 1995. Issued whenever one or more papers are accepted in a month. Distinctly not “arc of enthusiasm”: 11 papers 1995-6, 8 to 9 each year 1997-2000, but 20 to 26 each year 2000-2004; after a dip to 18 in 2005, 27 have been published in 2006 through August. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Investigaciones Geográficas. Spain. Founded 1983. Online access may have begun 1995. 38 issues, typically six to ten papers (and other content) per issue. Full archive back to 1983. [+]

Iranian Polymer Journal. Iran. 1992. Classic long-term spurt-growth case: 1992: 2/14; 1993: 2/16; 1994: 2/17; 1995: 4/36; 1996:L 4/34; 1997: 4/30; 1998: 4/32; 1999: 4/31; 2000: 4/31: 2001: 6/45; 2002: 6/39; 2003: 6/56; 2004: 6/57; 2005: 12/113; [2006: 6/53]. Full archives back to 1992. [+]

Irish Medical Journal. Ireland. Founded 1867 (different title). DOAJ shows 1983, but may be online since 2000 (based on site evidence). 542 papers in contemporary archive (2000-2006), scanned print back to 1980. [-]

J-L

Japanese Journal of American Studies. Japan. 1981. 17 issues in 25 years, 4-8 papers in each of first 10 issues, 6-13 in more recent issues. Partial archive back to 1981. [?]

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 1974 (with this title). 744 items (including papers but also book reviews and editorials) since 1974. Full (if difficult) archive back to 1974. [?]

Journal of Applied Mathematics and Stochastic Analysis. India. Hindawi publication, OA access much more recent than 1995. [-]

Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan. Japan. Founded 1968. DOAJ says 1992, site suggests 1989. Six/year 1989-2000, monthly 2001-, dozen or more papers in each sampled issue. Full archive back to 1968. [+]

Journal of Chemical Sciences. India. DOAJ shows 1977, but back issues only to 2000. [-]

Journal of Culture Collections. 1995. Bulgaria. Four issues between 1995 and 2005, total of 45 papers. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

Journal of Distance Education. 1986 (came online at later date). 32 issues 1986-2004; sampled issues have 4 to 8 papers each. Full archive back to 1986. [?]

Journal of Earth System Science (formerly Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences: Earth and Planetary Sciences). India. Founded 1934. Some internal evidence suggests OA as of 2000. Currently 6x/year, with significant number of papers in each issue (six or more in sampled issues). OA archive back to 1978. [?]

Journal of Electronic Publishing. Founded 1995. Two issues in 1995, one in 1996, two in 1997, 4 each 1998-2000, 3 in 2001, 1 in 2002. Restarted 1996: two to date. Typically 6 to 8 (or more) papers and invited articles in each issue. Archive split between two sites: 1995-2002 and 2006-. [+]

Journal of Equine Science. Japan. Founded 1989. Apparently online since 1995. Quarterly, with 2-4 papers in sampled issues. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

Journal of Korean Medical Science. Korea. Founded 1986. Currently 6x/year. Hundreds of articles. Full archive back to 1986. [?]

Journal of Nonlinear Mathematical Physics. Sweden. Founded 1994. Quarterly (plus supplements), typically 5 to 10 papers in sampled issues. Full archive back to 1994. [+]

Journal of Physical Therapy Science. Japan. Founded 1989? Apparently online since 1995. Twice a year, with eight to twelve papers in sampled issues. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

Journal of Plasma and Fusion Research. Japan. Founded 1984 (and DOAJ indicates 1984). Online access apparently did not begin until 1999. [-]

Journal of Political Ecology: Case Studies in History and Society. Founded 1994. Anywhere from 2 to 8 issues per year, with 3-4 papers per year (perhaps more in some years), plus many book reviews: Most issues consist entirely of book reviews. Full archive back to 1994. [+]

Journal of Postgraduate Medicine. India. Founded 1955? DOAJ shows 1980 (v. 26). Quarterly, with varying but substantial number of papers in each sampled issue. OA back to 1980. [?]

Journal of Reproduction and Development. Japan. Founded 1955? Online from 1995. 4x/year 1995-1998, 6x/year, 1999-, 10-12 papers per sampled issue (and other material). OA archive back to 1995. [+]

Journal of Research in Rural Education. 1982, became open access in 2004. [-]

Journal of Research of NIST. Founded 1905? Online since 1995. 6x/year, 4-10 papers in sampled issues, including conference reports. OA archive back to 1995, with growing pre-1995 archive. [+]

Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music. Founded 1995. Annual (with extra issues), 39 papers to date, plus many reviews. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Journal of the Korean Chemical Society. Korea. Founded 1949. Irregular early years, 6x/year 1971-1992 and 1997-present, 12x/year 1993-1996; sample issues showed anywhere from 7 to 20 items (presumably papers; mostly in Korean). Full archive back to 1949. [?]

The Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins. Brazil. 1995 (originally diskette; online in 1998.). Adding “including Tropical Diseases” to title. 2x/year, none since 2002. Typically 16-22 papers and theses per year, plus conference papers. Full archive back to 1995.[+, allowing diskette as “online”]

Korean Journal of Medical History. Korea. Founded 1992. Online appears to date from 1994. 2x/year; 7-16 papers per year. Full archives back to 1992. [+]

Korean Journal of Parasitology. Korea. Founded 1963. 2x/year 1964-1987, 4x/year since. Issues sampled show 6 to 15 papers per issue. Full archives back to 1963. [?]

Language and Learning Across the Disciplines. Founded 1994, merged to form new journal in 2004. 1994: 2/8; 1995: 1/5; 1997: 2/13; 1998: 2/13; 1999: 1/9; 2000: 4/16; 2001: 2/8; 2002: 1/8; 2003: 3/18. Full archive back to 1994. [+]

Liber Annuus. Israel. Founded 1951. Annual. Substantial number of papers per volume (dozens). OA archive back to 1991; abstracts back to 1951. [?]

Livestock Research for Rural Development. Colombia and Vietnam. Founded 1989 in diskette form. 30 papers/year in early years, growing since 1996: More than 100 papers/year in past three years. Full archives back to 1989. [+]

M-N

Mappemonde. France. Founded 1990. Became Mapp@monde in 2004 (separate linked site). 4x/year, typically 8 to 15 papers per issue (more in earlier years). Full archive back to 1990. [?]

Marine Ornithology. Canada. Founded 1976 as Cormorant. Online since 1988?. 2x/year, 10-14 papers in sampled issues. OA archive back to 1988. [+]

Marine Turtle Newsletter. Founded 1976. Online 1995?. 113 issues since 1976, small number of papers in each issue. Full archive back to 1976. [+]

Matematicki Vesnik. Serbia. DOAJ says 1993, but online files were posted beginning 1999. [-]

Mathematical Physics Electronic Journal. Spain. Founded 1995 as ejournal: emailed ASCII abstracts, then PS and/or PDF papers. 66 papers since 1995. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Mathematical Problems in Engineering. India. 1995. Hindawi; converted to OA recently. [-]

The Mathematics Educator. 1990. (DOAJ link not operational; found via Google.) 2x/year; sample issues have 4-6 papers each. Full archive back to 1990. [?]

McGill Journal of Medicine. 1994. 2x/year, small number of papers (2-4 per issue?) plus other content. Full archive back to 1994. [?]

Mediators of Inflammation. India. 1992. Hindawi; converted to OA recently. [-]

Medical History. Founded 1957. Quarterly, typically half a dozen papers (and other content) in each sampled issue. Full archive back to 1957. [?]

Medicina Legal de Costa Rica. Costa Rica. Online since 1995? 15 issues since 1995, sampled issues have 8-15 papers each. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

Le Médiéviste et l’ordinateur. France. 1990. Clumsy menu for apparent archives from 1990 to 2003 (no recent content); online content range not clear. [?]

MedULA. Venezuela. 1992. Quarterly in 1992, either one or two actual issues each year since. Apparently very brief papers; typical annual compilations sampled are 40 to 60 pages total. Full archive back to 1992. [?]

Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review. Founded 1994. 15 issues, typically 3 to 5 papers per issue. Full archive back to 1994. [+]

Missouri Journal of Mathematical Sciences. 1988. DOAJ link fails, but NewJour shows very early OA. 3x/year, half a dozen papers per issue. Full archive back to 1988. [+]

MMWR (Three titles in DOAJ). Available back to 1983, but appears to be primarily reports, not papers as such. “Recommendations and Reports” archived back to 1990, samples show 14-16 reports per year. [-]

Molecular Vision. Founded 1995. 1995: 4; 1996: 11; 1997: 18; 1998: 33; 1999: 41; 2000: 37; 2001: 43; 2002: 59; 2003: 90;l 2004: 122; 2005: 142; [2006: 118] Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Monthly Labor Review. Founded 1915. Monthly, with three to six articles (and other material) in sampled issues. OA archive back to 1981. [?]

New England Law Review. Founded 1965. OA 1995. 4x/year, substantial number of papers in each issue. Note: Small black-on-dark-blue type for archives and other links are so hard to read and recognize as links that I initially marked this as “apparently not OA,” since on less than a big, bright LCD display, there are literally no visible links to full text. [+]

New South Wales Public Health Bulletin. Founded 1990. Typically six to 12 issues per year, two to four brief articles in sampled issues. OA archive back to 1990. [?]

Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics. Founded 1994. Two to four actual issues (four numbered issues) per year 1994/2000, with 20 to 29 papers per year; four to six actual issues per year since 2001, growing steadily from 37 papers in 2001 to 89 in 2005 (43 in first half of 2006). Full archive back to 1994. [+]

Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 1995. 11x/year, with two or three articles (and other content) in each issue; calls itself magazine, not journal. OA archive back to 1995. [+]

Nucleic Acids Research. Founded 1974. OA began no earlier than 1996 (earlier articles now available via PubMed Central). [-]

Nueva Sociedad. Argentina. Founded 1972. Full-text online begins with the November/December 1995 issue. 64 issues since November 1995, with substantial number of papers in each sampled issue. OA archive back to late 1995, with contents/abstracts back to 1972. [+]

Nutrition Bytes. Founded 1995: papers by first-year medical students at UCLA. 2x/year, 4-8 papers/issue. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

P-R

Papeles del Psicólogo. Spain. Founded 1981. 95 issues since 1981, six to twelve or more papers in sampled issues. Full archive back to 1981. [?]

Papers on Social Representations. Austria. DOAJ says 1992 but site indicates online access began in 1999. [-]

Park Science. Founded 1980. Site evidence suggests online (ASCII) availability began 1991. Typically quarterly to 1996, one or two issues per year to 2004, nothing since “Winter 2004/05.” Popularized articles, varying, typically large handful in each issue. Current status unclear. Full archive back to 1980. [+]

Polar Bioscience. Japan. Founded (under different name) 1987. Annual (missing 1988); anywhere from ten to 30 or more papers per year. Full archive back to 1987. [?]

Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation. Founded 1988. Did not go online until 1999. [-]

Pramana: Journal of Physics. India. Founded 1973. Internal evidence suggests online availability began early 1999. Currently monthly, with quite a few articles per issue. Archive (page viewer prior to 1999) back to 1973. [-]

Publications de l'Institut Mathématique (Beograd). Serbia. Founded 1963 or earlier. Web publication dates indicate online version dates from 2001. [-]

Publications of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade. Series Mathematics. Serbia. Founded 1956 with different title. Current English-language journal began 1990, but was not online until 2005. [-]

The Qualitative Report. Founded 1990, online “a couple of years later.” Erratic with a few papers each year until 2000, more regular and more papers since (137 between 2002 and 2006). Full archive back to 1990. [+]

The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Singapore. Founded 1928 (different title); 1988 with current title, but not online until 2005. [-]

Research and Practice in Human Resource Management. Founded 1993. Online since 2005. [-]

Review of Biblical Literature. DOAJ says 1970, but first accessible reviews date from 1998. (Only online as review database.) [-]

Revista Argentina de Cardiologia. Argentina. Founded 1932? DOAJ says 1993, and site shows articles back to 1993, but in scanned-PDF form through 2000. Typically 6x/year, substantial number of papers in each issue. OA back to 1993. [?]

Revista Cubana de Enfermería. Cuba. DOAJ shows 1995. Scielo and Google links return empty pages, either initially or from overall contents list. (Note: Same conditions apply for 7 other journals with titles beginning “Revista Cubana” and DOAJ dates of 1995.) [?]

Revista de la Educación Superior. Mexico. Founded 1972. 138 issues to date, substantial number of papers in sampled issues. Full archive back to 1972. [?]

Revista de Saúde Pública. Brazil. Founded 1967. DOAJ shows 1992. Distinctly non-OA: “Any reproduction of material, even partial, is forbidden without the authorization of the Scientific editor.” [Not OA]

Revista ELectrónica de Investigación y EValuaciòn Educativa (RELIEVE). Spain. Founded 1995. Just over 100 papers to date. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Revista Médica del Hospital Nacional de Niños Dr. Carlos Sáenz Herrera. Costa Rica. Founded 1966? Typically 6-12 papers in each sampled year; more in 2004; none since 2004. OA archive back to 1995. [?]

Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas. Mexico. Founded 1975 (title varies). Internal evidence suggests online since 2000 (all earlier articles appear as scanned PDFs). Two or three issues per year; each recent sampled issue has substantial number of articles. Limited OA (equivalent to Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license). Full archive back to 1975. [-]

Richmond Journal of Law and Technology. Founded 1995. Articles, comments and speeches (some issues also have transcripts): 1995: 1/5; 1996: ¼; 1997: 3/16; 1998: 3/13; 1999: 5/25; 2000: 3/19; 2001: 4/13; 2002: 3/12: 2003: 1/5; 2004: 5/32; 2005: 4/15. [Note: some issues have two years; first year used.] Full archive back to 1995, although some speeches and articles have yet to appear online. [+]

S-Y

Sankhya, the Indian Journal of Statistics. Founded 1933. DOAJ says 1993. Appears to be scanned papers (6 issues/year, varied number of papers in sample issues) 1993/2002, evidence suggests online as of 2003. 2003: 4/51+, 2004: 4/45+; 2005: 4/38+; [2006: 1/7+]. OA archive back to 1993, tables of contents back to 1933. [-]

Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems. Scandinavia (multinational). Founded 1989. Full archive back to 1989. While site seems to indicate online availability as of 2004, there’s a NewJour notice from 1995. [+]

Séminaire Lotharingien de Combinatoire. Austria. Founded 1980 (first papers in 1981), online as of 1994. 24 issues (some not yet complete) with 197 papers between 1994 and now. OA archive back to 1994. [+]

Solaris Information Communication. France. Founded 1994. 1994: 11; 1995: 9; 1996: 4 original?; 1997: 12?; 1998: 8; 1999: 9; 2000/01: 10. Nothing since 2001; apparently ceased. Just past the arc of enthusiasm. Full archive back to 1994. [+]

Southwest Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics. Founded 1995. 1995: 1/5; 1996: 2/15. 1997-99: 2/12 each year. 2000/2003: 2/20 each year. 2004: 1/6. Nothing since July 2004. All articles are labeled “preprint.” [+]

Studies in Informatics and Control. Romania. Founded 1992. Full-text online in 1996. OA archive back to 1996. [-]

Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology. Founded 1995 under different title. “Quarterly” to 1999, 3x/year 2000-. Typically half a dozen articles per issue. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

Technikfolgenabschätzung - Theorie und Praxis. Germany. Founded 1995 under different title. Two to four issues per volume, substantial number of articles per issue. Full archive back to 1994. [?]

Technology Electronic Reviews. Founded 1994 under different title. Entirely reviews, no refereed articles. Publication pattern suggests arc of enthusiasm but with ongoing renewal attempts. Anywhere from one to 12 issues per year, typically half a dozen reviews per issue. Full archive back to 1994. [+]

Telos. Spain? DOAJ says 1992. Unable to navigate site sufficiently to locate archive or find full text for current articles. [?]

Texas Heart Institute Journal. Founded 1974, different title. DOAJ says 1982 (start of current title). First HTML full text is 2000. Quarterly, large number of articles in sampled issues. Full archive back to 1974. [?]

Theory and Applications of Categories. Founded 1995. 228 papers in 16 volumes to date, with growth in recent years. Full archive back to 1995. [+]

The Trumpeter. Founded 1983. Internal evidence suggests online since 1995 (start of individual HTML articles). Typically quarterly, with substantial number of articles per issue; diminished 1998-2001, but growing since. Full archive back to 1983, but only scanned issues prior to 1995. [+]

Turkish Journal of Mathematics. Turkey. Founded 1977? Apparently online since 1994. Three or four issues per year,  6 to 13 articles in sampled issues. OA archive back to 1994. [+]

Última Década. Chile. Founded 1993. 24 issues 1993-2006, several articles per issue. Full archive back to 1993. [?]

Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk. Russia. DOAJ says 1994. Unable to navigate site enough to test for archives and OA. [?]

The Weekly Epidemiological Record. Founded 1926. Clearly not available online until at least 1996. [-]

World Journal of Gastroenterology. China. Founded 1995. Wildly varying frequency (4 issues/year 1996/97, 6/year 1998/2002, 12 in 2003, 24 in 2004, 45 in 2005, 32 to date in 2006), substantial number of papers in each sampled issue (too many to count readily). OA access back to 1995. [+]

The World Wide Web Journal of Biology. Founded 1995. Potential multimedia content. 1995/6: 5; 1996/7: 9; 1998: 5; 1999: 7; 2000: 3; 2001: 2; 2002: 2; 2003: 8; 2004-2005: 1. Web pages appear unedited in years (one page says “the internet has 20-30 million users at present”). [+]

Yonsei Medical Journal. Korea. Founded 1960. PDFs seem to be scanned through at least 2000. Annual, with significant number of articles in sampled volumes. Full archive back to 1960. [?]

Putting It All Together

Counting up the conclusions/opinions (noting that one question mark represents three related journals, and that another represents eight Cuban journals that I couldn’t reach), we find:

     Five out of 189 don’t appear to be true scholarly OA—they have restrictive copyrights or they’re not refereed scholarly papers (including reviews). That’s not a bad rate, given how rapidly DOAJ has grown recently.

     Evidence suggests (or in some cases the site flatly states) that 37 (20%) weren’t OA as early as 1995, but have since provided retrospective access to papers. It’s possible that I’m wrong on some of these.

     Evidence suggests that 84 (44%) were OA as early as 1995, and in some cases a few years earlier. I could be wrong about some of these.

     For exactly one-third of the journals—63—I couldn’t form a firm opinion. My guess is that most of these became available later than 1995, with retrospective availability of earlier papers, but I’m not confident of that guess.

Add it up and we see that at least 121 and possibly as many as 184 journals publishing refereed scholarly articles and reviews were available in OA form in 1995 (some years earlier) and lasted at least a decade, showing articles at least through 2004.

How many free online journals came and went between 1995 and 2004? It would be delightful to say that the mortality rate was only 13%: the 25 ceased journals in Part I and the three in Part II, out of the maximum plausible number for 1995 (66 in Part I, 147 in part II). But that benign picture is certainly far too optimistic.

The oldest surviving scholarly ejournal I’m aware of, New Horizons in Adult Education, began in 1987. Thus, this year marks two decades of sustaining free ejournal publishing. It would be fascinating and, I believe, worthwhile to try to track the ejournal landscape through the first of those two decades—or, more realistically, to see what emerged during the first decade (1987-1996) and what happened to those early ejournals. But that’s another story.

Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large, Volume 6, Number 12, Whole Issue 82, ISSN 1534-0937, a journal of libraries, policy, technology and media, is written and produced by Walt Crawford, a senior analyst at OCLC.

Cites & Insights is sponsored by YBP Library Services, http://www.ybp.com.

Opinions herein may not represent those of OCLC or YBP Library Services.

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