The document summarizes a webinar about The Open Journal of Astrophysics Project. It discusses the history of the project, including previous attempts to develop their own publishing platform. It then explains how the project is now being relaunched using the Scholastica publishing platform. The webinar argues that open access to taxpayer-funded research is important for public trust. It questions whether traditional academic journals are still needed given resources like the arXiv that make papers publicly available. The Open Journal of Astrophysics aims to provide a free, community-reviewed open access alternative to traditional journals.

1. Scholastica Webinar
The Open Journal of Astrophysics Project
Peter Coles
(@telescoper)

2. • The idea of the Open Journal is >6 years old
• Originally we developed our own platform, but never got
further than a Beta version and published 3 papers.
• We registered the domain xxxx.theoj.org
• Group split up to try different modes of publication(JOSS,
etc)
• In 2018 we decided to re-launch using Scholastica (which
is inexpensive and easy to use)
A Bit of History

3. •Most research in my field (and other “blue skies” subjects) is
funded by the tax payer, so the tax payer should have access
to it.
•Public trust (climate change, fracking..)
•Open science is better science
•Does Open Access go far enough?
•Everything needed to reproduce the results should be made
public: data, analysis tools, the lot…
Why Open Access?

4. •Most new astrophysics research has been available via
“Green” Open Access via the arXiv for > 25 years.
•Running costs are met by donations
•Despite decreasing publication costs, subscriptions to
traditional academic publications have increased
•Huge profits for private companies and Learned Societies
•NASA/ADS has historical papers back to 19th century
•Do we need these journals at all?
Why Academic Journals?

5. 2 October, 2019

6. • Peer Review “adds value” (discuss!)
• In any case, Peer Review is not done by the journals, but
academics (i.e. you and me), usually for free.
• With a more radical publication model, peer review could
be much more effective..
• Astrophysics already leads in “citizen science”, e.g.
“Galaxy Zoo”.
Peer Review

7. •The arXiv and NASA/ADS systems have already made
traditional journals virtually redundant
•Most papers are submitted to arXiv before peer review
•Gold Open Access is simply a rip-off
•The Open Journal for Astrophysics ia a free, open access,
community-reviewed “journal” based on the arXiv
•Published by Maynooth Academic Publishing!
The Open Journal of
Astrophysics

8. •The Scholastica Platform performs two functions: (1) Peer
Review and (2) Publishing
•Authors submit papers. These are assigned to editors, who
select referees (we usually use 2) and revisions occur until
the paper is accepted.
•We prefer submissions via the arXiv but can accept papers
directly.
•When a paper is accepted the authors place the final
version on arXiv and we provide an overlay, DOI (registered
with CrossRef).
The Open Journal of
Astrophysics

9. 2 October, 2019

10. 2 October, 2019

11. Links
http://astro.theoj.org
http://www.facebook.com/OpenJAstrophysics
@OJ_Astro
2 October, 2019

12. The End
Thank you for listening?
Any Questions?
2 October, 2019