The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is the world’s most authoritative list of scholarly, peer-reviewed, fully open access journals, and a “must” for libraries of all types. As of August 2007, DOAJ includes over 2,800 titles, over 10% of the world’s estimated 20-25,000 peer-reviewed scholarly journal titles. This is an impressive list; in terms of numbers of titles, DOAJ compares favorably with commercial journal packages. DOAJ is growing rapidly, at a rate of more than one title per calendar day. DOAJ’s highly functional and aesthetically pleasing interface features a number of search options, including a new search option for authors looking for open access or hybrid journals to publish in. DOAJ is freely available, and working towards economic sustainability through an optional membership / sponsorship program. This article examines the DOAJ membership program in some depth. Membership fees for libraries and library consortia are an incredible bargain. The membership fee for DOAJ’s 2,800 (and growing) title list is less than the average subscription cost for a single journal in any scientific discipline, and DOAJ represents significant staff time savings for libraries. The promotional benefits of DOAJ membership are important to position libraries for leadership in the internet age, and especially in the key emerging area of scholarly communications. DOAJ is a very popular service among libraries, with a strong reputation for quality; membership or sponsorship is likely to be highly beneficial to library service providers. As a free resource, DOAJ is strongly recommended for all libraries. DOAJ titles can be included in A-Z journal lists, library catalogues or websites, and subject-specific URLs can be added to subject guides or pathfinders.

Wir haben ständig steigende Studierendenzahlen, Nachwuchswissenschaftlerzahlen, eine ständig steigende Anzahl von Forschungsprojekten an der Universität und entsprechend steigt auch ständig der Bedarf unserer jungen Leute wie unserer etablierten Wissenschaftler nach den Serviceleistungen der UB, nach den Möglichkeiten, die UB für ihre Zwecke einzusetzen und von den in Leipzig ja zum Teil hervorragenden Möglichkeiten auch zu profitieren. Das ist wunderbar, grenzt nur natürlich an die budgetierten Zwänge, mit denen wir im Moment heftiger denn je kämpfen. Diese budgetierten Zwänge – die Etats der UB können wir ja leider nicht entsprechend erhöhen –machen uns doch zunehmend Sorgen.

Wir haben ständig steigende Studierendenzahlen, Nachwuchswissenschaftlerzahlen, eine ständig steigende Anzahl von Forschungsprojekten an der Universität und entsprechend steigt auch ständig der Bedarf unserer jungen Leute wie unserer etablierten Wissenschaftler nach den Serviceleistungen der UB, nach den Möglichkeiten, die UB für ihre Zwecke einzusetzen und von den in Leipzig ja zum Teil hervorragenden Möglichkeiten auch zu profitieren. Das ist wunderbar, grenzt nur natürlich an die budgetierten Zwänge, mit denen wir im Moment heftiger denn je kämpfen. Diese budgetierten Zwänge – die Etats der UB können wir ja leider nicht entsprechend erhöhen –machen uns doch zunehmend Sorgen.

This research study looks at digital academic space, which is defined here as web-based digitally mediated artifacts produced by universities and their members. Open source software projects and the Open Access movement play large roles within digital academic space, not only because of their strong historical academic roots, but also because these projects are growing in prevalence in many universities. Framed by theories from the field of higher education and media studies, this research study is an analysis of the dynamics and effects of one open source software project that produces Open Access electronic journals. The software system, called the Open Journal Systems (OJS), originally developed by an education professor from a Canadian university, has been adopted by thousands of universities world- wide to publish electronic peer reviewed academic journals. OJS users distributed at universities throughout the world have contributed software code back to the system, by for example, creating translation modules enabling users to publish journals in a range of languages thus adding an interesting global dimension to the project. Based on interviews with the OJS software developers, administrators, and users, as well as a range of material culled from online, this situational analysis of the OJS sketches out the conditions, dynamics, discourses and professional identities that form the basis of an emerging phenomenon within universities that is named here the digitally mediated open research project (DMORP

This research study looks at digital academic space, which is defined here as web-based digitally mediated artifacts produced by universities and their members. Open source software projects and the Open Access movement play large roles within digital academic space, not only because of their strong historical academic roots, but also because these projects are growing in prevalence in many universities. Framed by theories from the field of higher education and media studies, this research study is an analysis of the dynamics and effects of one open source software project that produces Open Access electronic journals. The software system, called the Open Journal Systems (OJS), originally developed by an education professor from a Canadian university, has been adopted by thousands of universities world- wide to publish electronic peer reviewed academic journals. OJS users distributed at universities throughout the world have contributed software code back to the system, by for example, creating translation modules enabling users to publish journals in a range of languages thus adding an interesting global dimension to the project. Based on interviews with the OJS software developers, administrators, and users, as well as a range of material culled from online, this situational analysis of the OJS sketches out the conditions, dynamics, discourses and professional identities that form the basis of an emerging phenomenon within universities that is named here the digitally mediated open research project (DMORP