1. Open access publishing and the question of quality
Anna-Sofia Ruth, TSV
Open access publishing:
Principles, practices and administrative support
University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences
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2. Publication Forum (JUFO) – what is it?
Publication Forum (also known as Julkaisufoorumi, JUFO) is a classification system to support the quality assessment of research output on a large scale
In this systems both foreign and domestic scholarly publication channels are rated into three categories:
1 = basic level (87 %)
2 = leading level (10 %)
3 = highest level (3 %)
Category 0 includes evaluated publication channels that do not meet the Level 1 criteria

3. Why is it? The classification is intended as:
a quality indicator for the research output produced by universities within the university funding model (13 % of funding comes from publications)
an indicator of the impact and eminence of academic publication channels
The classification is not intended as:
a tool for the assessment and rewarding of individual researchers
Bibliometric indicators (JIF etc.) widely used in Sciences and Medicine but indexing databases do not cover most of the publications in Technology and Engineering, and even less so in Social Sciences and Humanities
a publication channel classification uses the same criteria to cover all disciplines with their particular publication practices (scope, type, language)
the evaluation work is carried out by members of the research community

4. How does it work?
It operates under the auspices of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV) and is instructed by a steering group
The rating is performed by 23 discipline-specific expert panels composed of some 200 distinguished Finnish or Finland-based scholars, mostly professors
New channels nominated for Level 1 processed continuously
Channels on Level 2 and 3 re-evaluated at four-year intervals
Members of the scientific community can participate by proposing alterations to the ratings as well as proposing new forums to be included
Similar systems in Norway and Denmark

5. Policies regarding Open Access
Open Access journals and book publishers are evaluated using the same criteria applicable to other publication channels
In the next re-evaluation of Levels 2 and 3 (next year), if two equally good journals are competing for the higher rating, the journal that is either gold OA or allows parallel publishing will be favored over the other
It would be better to set OA incentives directly in the universities’ funding model than embedded in JUFO evaluation criteria

6. Open Access indicators: DOAJ
DOAJ = Directory of Open Access Journals
Open access is immediately available to all content = gold open access
ISSN number, an editor-in-chief and/or editorial board, a peer-review process and a website with comprehensive information (incl. guidelines for authors, author fees and information on open access and intellectual property rights)
Journals with "green tick" or a DOAJ Seal are considered to be indexed
Includes journals and more than 2 million articles

7. Open Access indicators: SHERPA/RoMEO
Color codes depict publishers' or peer-reviewed journals' policies regarding the self-archiving of journal articles on the web and in Open Access repositories = green open access
Green: can archive pre-print and post-print or publisher's version/PDF
Blue: can archive post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing) or publisher's version/PDF
Yellow: can archive pre-print (ie pre-refereeing)
White: archiving not formally supported
Grey: unknown

8. SHERPA/RoMEO journals in JUFO

9. DOAJ journals in JUFO

10. DOAJ journals in JUFO

11. How to search for OA outlets?
It’s easy: select OA indicator + fields of science + JUFO level

12. Don’t fall prey! A typical ”predator”:
Accepts manuscripts within days from submission (no real peer review)
Doesn’t reveal its location or personal contact information
Doesn’t appear in abstracting and indexing services
Has a pompous title and vague scope
Has lower APCs than other OA journals
Has very little to no content on its website
Gives false information regarding indexing and indicators on its website
Sends spam s and markets its services aggressively

13. Stay up to date www.julkaisufoorumi.fi Julkaisufoorumi on Facebook
TSV on
test JUFO Portal at and give feedback