Tufts Libraries Open Journal Publishing Service

Tufts Libraries provides an open access journal publishing service using Open Journal Systems (OJS). It's available to Tufts faculty members, students, or research groups interested in starting a new journal or moving your existing journal to a new hosting system. OJS provides a platform to manage submissions and editorial functions, and to host your published journal in PDF, HTML, or XML formats. Publications can choose to use some or all of these features.

We expect to have new publications on our platform this spring, but in the meantime, you can see examples of other journals hosted on OJS at Boston College or Tulane.

We offer this service as part of our commitment to supporting open sharing of knowledge created at Tufts and more equitable access to scholarship, and are excited to offer this new service to the Tufts community! Browse the pages of this guide for more information about the service, eligible publications, and how to submit a proposal. Please get in touch with any questions or to discuss a potential project.

• OJS allows you to manage the whole publication process - including submissions, corresponding with authors, and publishing - in one place, so you don't need to have multiple platforms and workflows.
• We provide the hosting platform, so you don't need to maintain a website or pay hosting fees (though you can choose to keep your existing site if you'd like!)
• We provide DOIs for articles, so other people can easily link to your content and you don't need to worry about links breaking.
• We offer a full suite of services, including support for establishing policies & best practices for your journal and guidance on getting indexed in databases.
• Content in OJS is indexed in Google Scholar, improving discoverability.
• Creating a journal to publish through Tufts Libraries allows you to fill gaps in the scholarly conversation that existing publications aren't meeting, and moves away from the commercial publishing ecosystem.

Editor/journal owners requirements

• Journals must have an affiliation with an academic department, campus unit, club, or center at Tufts University.
• Nonprofit, society or organization-stewarded publications without direct Tufts University affiliation will be considered with the sponsorship of an individual affiliated with an academic department, campus unit, club, or center at Tufts.

Publications requirements

• Publications will use the model Tufts University author’s agreement (see the Documents section at the bottom of this box) that allows authors to retain copyright and licenses content under a Creative Commons license. We will work with you, and University Counsel if needed, to make any requested changes to this agreement or to use an existing agreement from your publication. 
• Publications may not require author submission charges or Article Processing Charges (APCs).
• Each work in a hosted publication must, at a minimum, undergo editorial review. Publications are encouraged to adopt a form of peer review.
• Publications will provide written documentation of selection criteria and editorial practices.
• Publications will publish content at least annually.
• All content produced through Tufts Libraries publishing services will remain freely available to all readers if the publication moves to a new publisher.

Publications are encouraged to adhere to best practices and guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and to adopt inclusive practices for peer review and editing and language, and to articulate their practices on the journal’s website.

A full list of responsibilities for journals publishing through Tufts Libraries is found in our Memorandum of Understanding for Open Access Journal Hosting (see the full MOU in the Program information & OJS documentation section of this guide).

Editors interested in publishing a journal with Tufts Libraries should fill out the Journal Proposal Form. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

You can view a full list of questions before filling out the Proposal Form.

The Tufts Libraries Scholarly Communication Team (SCT) will make editorial decisions on publication proposals submitted.