- DOAJ only lists fully open access journals with an ISSN, real peer review and transparent policies that are easy to find on the website.
- You need at least five research articles a year, plus more than one year of publishing or at least ten articles, before applying.
- Decisions generally take up to six months. A rejection usually means waiting six months before reapplying, so get it right the first time.
What DOAJ is and why DOAJ indexing matters
DOAJ indexing is often the first selective milestone for an open access journal running on OJS. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is an independent, community-curated directory that lists peer-reviewed, fully open access journals meeting its published criteria. Its editors and volunteers review each application by hand.
Being in DOAJ matters because:
- Discovery: libraries, discovery services and aggregators use DOAJ data to include open access journals in their search tools.
- Trust: authors, librarians and many institutions use DOAJ listing as a signal of transparent, good open access practice.
- Preparation: DOAJ's checks (policies, peer review, licensing, editorial board) overlap with what Scopus and Web of Science look at later.
Applying to DOAJ and being indexed in it are both free. It evaluates practices and transparency rather than the scholarly quality of each article.
Is your journal eligible for DOAJ indexing?
Check these before anything else. If any answer is "no", fix it before applying.
- All research content is free to read immediately: no embargo and no registration required.
- The journal publishes at least five research articles a year for an audience of researchers or practitioners.
- It has more than one year of publishing history, or has published at least ten open access research articles.
- It has at least one ISSN confirmed at issn.org, shown on the website, and the journal name matches the ISSN record.
- It has its own URL and homepage, and every article has its own URL with the full text in HTML or PDF.
DOAJ does not accept journals that publish only book reviews, and it has specific rules for conference proceedings, case report journals, student-run journals and other special types, all explained in its Guide to applying.
DOAJ requirements checklist
This table summarises DOAJ's basic criteria as published in its Guide to applying. The guide is versioned and updated from time to time, so read the current version before you submit.
| Area | What DOAJ expects | Common gap on OJS sites |
|---|---|---|
| Open access | Immediate free access to full text under an open licence; an open access statement on the site | Statement missing, or some issues behind a login |
| Licensing | Licence terms clearly stated (Creative Commons recommended) | Licence shown on articles but not explained on a policy page, or the two disagree |
| Copyright | Copyright terms stated separately from website terms and consistent with the licence; never "All rights reserved" for open access content | Old "copyright transferred to the publisher, all rights reserved" text left in place |
| ISSN | At least one ISSN confirmed at issn.org and displayed; journal name matches the record | Provisional ISSN, or title on the site differs from the ISSN record |
| Publishing volume | At least five research articles a year | Gaps between issues |
| Peer review | Every article reviewed before publication by at least two independent reviewers (editorial review by at least two editors is acceptable in arts and humanities); the process clearly described | Vague "papers are reviewed" wording |
| Editorial board | Named editor and editorial board with institutional affiliations; at least five members recommended | Names without affiliations, or members who cannot be verified |
| Endogeny | No more than 25% of articles in each of the latest two issues by the editorial board (for continuous publishing: the last calendar year) | Board members publishing heavily in their own journal |
| Special issues | Editor-in-chief responsible for all content; guest-edited papers reviewed normally and no more than 25% of an issue | No policy for special issues |
| Transparency for authors | The website clearly states its terms for authors, including saying so explicitly when submission and publication are free | No statement at all |
| Publisher information | Publisher name and address, a contact person and a dedicated journal email; the country where the publisher is registered | Only a web form or a personal Gmail address |
| Website content | Aims and scope, editorial board, author instructions, peer review process, open access policy, licence and copyright terms, publisher information, all easy to reach from the homepage | Information buried in PDFs or spread across menus |
| Advertising | No intrusive advertising | Pop-up ads on article pages |
| Best practice (recommended) | Long-term digital archiving, persistent identifiers such as DOIs, self-archiving without embargo, plagiarism checking, an AI and automated tools policy, regular metadata uploads to DOAJ | No archiving arrangement |
Ready-to-adapt wording for the peer review, ethics, open access, copyright, licensing and archiving policies is in our journal policy templates.
Where each DOAJ requirement goes in OJS
DOAJ reviewers check your website, not just your answers. Each item should be one or two clicks from the homepage. Menu paths below are typical for OJS 3.3–3.5; labels vary slightly between versions and themes.
| Item | Where it goes in OJS | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Journal title and ISSN | Settings → Journal → Masthead | Copy the title exactly as it appears in the ISSN Portal. |
| About, aims and scope, publishing schedule | Settings → Journal → Masthead → About the Journal, or a custom page | State the subject area, article types, audience and how often you publish. |
| Editorial board | Masthead → Editorial Team, or a custom page for larger boards | Full names, roles, institutions and countries. Add ORCID or profile links. |
| Author guidelines | Settings → Workflow → Submission → Author Guidelines | Include article types, formatting, references and the review process. |
| Peer review process | A custom page added under Settings → Website → Setup → Navigation | Review model, number of reviewers, typical timelines and who decides. |
| Open access statement | Access option under Settings → Distribution → Access, plus visible text on the About page or a policy page | Say that content is free to read immediately on publication. |
| Licence and copyright | Settings → Distribution → License (copyright holder, licence URL), plus a policy page | Make the policy page, the submission agreement and the article footer say the same thing. |
| Transparency statement for authors | A policy page or the author guidelines | Keep it short and unambiguous, as described in the checklist above. |
| Publisher and contact | Settings → Journal → Contact, plus the About page and footer | Use an institutional journal email address and a full postal address. |
| Ethics, plagiarism, AI, corrections, archiving | Custom policy pages linked from the main menu | Also enable an archiving option, such as the PKP Preservation Network, if your version and journal qualify. |
Make everything easy to find
A single "Journal Policies" menu with links to each policy page makes the reviewer's job easy, and it helps authors too. Avoid putting policies only inside downloadable PDFs.
The DOAJ application process
- Self-check against the criteria
Go through the checklist above and DOAJ's Guide to applying. DOAJ also publishes the application questions as a PDF for reference, so you can prepare answers offline.
- Create a DOAJ account
Use an email address the journal controls, not a personal address that may leave with one editor.
- Complete the application form
Give the exact URL of each policy page. Every answer must match what is on the website. DOAJ rejects applications with inaccurate or incomplete answers.
- Review by a DOAJ editor
Your reviewer may be a volunteer who does not have a doaj.org email address. If in doubt, confirm with DOAJ.
- Answer questions promptly
If questions remain unanswered after one month, the application is rejected.
- Decision
DOAJ says decisions are generally reached within six months, and it does not provide status updates before then.
Want a second pair of eyes before you press submit? Our DOAJ and indexing preparation service reviews your site against every criterion and gives you a list of fixes.
After acceptance: sending article metadata from OJS
Acceptance lists your journal. To have your articles appear in DOAJ, you also need to upload article metadata regularly. DOAJ accepts it in several ways:
- The OJS DOAJ Export Plugin, which can export DOAJ XML or deposit directly through DOAJ's API.
- DOAJ's API (JSON) or an XML upload in DOAJ's own format or Crossref XML.
- Manual entry through the DOAJ web form, which is practical only for very small journals.
- Get your API key
Log in to your DOAJ account and find the API key in your account settings. If you cannot see one, contact DOAJ.
- Enable the plugin in OJS
Check that the DOAJ Export Plugin is enabled under Settings → Website → Plugins (Import/Export plugins). In OJS 3.3 and 3.4 you then open it from Tools → Import/Export.
- Enter the API key
Paste the key into the plugin settings. Without a key you can still export XML files, but you cannot deposit from OJS. Leave any "test mode" option switched off for live deposits.
- Deposit articles
Select published articles and deposit them, or enable automatic deposits if your version offers it (this relies on OJS scheduled tasks running).
- Check for errors
Most failures come from an ISSN in OJS that does not match the DOAJ record, or missing abstracts and author names.
Keep your journal record in DOAJ up to date as well. Policies, URLs, editors and the publisher change over time, and outdated information can trigger a review.
What happened to the DOAJ Seal?
The DOAJ Seal used to mark journals that met extra best-practice criteria, such as long-term archiving, persistent identifiers and open licences. DOAJ retired the Seal on 8 April 2025, after a community consultation, partly because it was often misread as a mark of quality or prestige. It no longer appears on journal records.
The practices behind it still matter, and DOAJ still records them in its metadata: archive your content, use DOIs, allow self-archiving and choose a clear open licence. If a website or consultant still offers to "get you the DOAJ Seal", their information is out of date.
Common DOAJ rejection reasons and reapplying
These are the gaps we see most often when reviewing OJS journals that DOAJ has rejected:
- Required information missing, hard to find, or only inside PDFs.
- Answers in the application that do not match the website.
- A peer review description that does not mention at least two independent reviewers.
- Editorial board members without affiliations, or who cannot be verified.
- Too many articles by the journal's own editors (endogeny above 25%).
- Licence and copyright statements that contradict each other.
- An unconfirmed ISSN, or a journal name that differs from the ISSN record.
- Fewer than five research articles a year, or irregular publication.
- Missing publisher address or a generic contact email.
- Questions from the DOAJ editor left unanswered for a month.
Waiting periods and appeals
| Situation | When you can apply again |
|---|---|
| Standard rejection | Six months after the rejection notice |
| Rejected only for a resolvable issue (unconfirmed ISSN, website unavailable, not enough content) | As soon as the issue is fixed |
| Misleading information or poor practice | The publisher can be excluded for up to three years |
Appeals must be submitted within six months of the decision and must show that the original assessment was wrong. Changes made after the decision are not considered in an appeal; they belong in a new application.
Latindex, SciELO and a combined indexing checklist
Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal often apply to regional indexes as well:
- Latindex is a regional information system for scholarly journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal. Its Directory lists journals, while its Catalogue includes only journals that meet a set of editorial quality characteristics, with a separate set for online journals.
- SciELO is a network of national full-text collections (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa, Spain and others). Each national collection sets its own admission criteria, usually covering peer review, publication volume, editorial board diversity and XML production. A journal applies to the collection of its own country.
Whichever index you target, the same foundations come up again and again. Use this as a combined checklist for DOAJ, Latindex, SciELO, Scopus and Web of Science:
- Registered ISSN that matches the journal title on every page.
- Regular, on-time issues with no long gaps.
- A documented peer review process with at least two reviewers per article.
- An editorial board with verifiable names, affiliations and countries.
- Ethics, plagiarism, corrections and AI policies, plus licence and copyright terms.
- Complete article metadata, with English titles and abstracts if you publish in another language.
- References in Roman script (Web of Science checks this explicitly).
- DOIs, long-term archiving and a stable, secure OJS website.
For how these indexes compare and which to target next, read our journal indexing guide, then the Scopus indexing guide. If you would like an independent readiness review before applying, our journal indexing service prepares OJS journals for DOAJ ethically, with no guarantees and no shortcuts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does DOAJ take to review an application?
DOAJ says decisions are generally reached within six months, and it does not give status updates before then. Applications that are complete, accurate and match the website exactly tend to move fastest. Reply quickly to any questions from the reviewing editor: applications with unanswered questions after one month are rejected.
Can a new journal apply to DOAJ?
Yes, once it has either more than one year of publishing history or at least ten open access research articles, and it publishes at least five research articles a year. Before that point, focus on policies, peer review records and regular issues.
Does an OJS journal need DOIs to be accepted by DOAJ?
No. DOAJ lists persistent identifiers such as DOIs as best practice, not as a basic requirement. They are still worth setting up early because Scopus, Web of Science and most authors expect them.
Can hybrid or subscription journals be listed in DOAJ?
No. DOAJ only indexes journals whose research content is fully open access, without an embargo and without registration to read. Selling a print version is allowed.
Does the journal website have to be in English?
No. DOAJ accepts journals in any language. If your site is multilingual, the same information must be available in every language version.
Is DOAJ listing required before applying to Scopus?
No. Scopus does not require DOAJ, but the preparation overlaps a lot, so DOAJ is a sensible first milestone for open access journals. See how to get a journal indexed in Scopus.
Can OJS Academy apply to DOAJ on our behalf?
We help you prepare: checking every criterion, fixing your OJS site and policies, and preparing the answers with your team. The DOAJ account should belong to the journal, and the final decision is DOAJ's alone. We never guarantee acceptance. See our indexing preparation service.
