24 June 2022
Louise Stoddard
Communications Manager, DOAJ
Over 1000 academic journals exist in Ukraine, a country which also publishes academic books extensively through university presses. Since the Russian invasion, DOAJ has offered support towards the continuation of Ukrainian scholarly publishing, calling for a ceasefire and the restoration of an environment where scholars and researchers can safely carry out their work. We fast-track the review of all Ukrainian journal applications submitted to us and actively promote our collection of almost 400 indexed Ukrainian journals. DOAJ also recognised the need to go further and assist not only the researchers producing knowledge, but the supporting workforce who help make this research possible.
Through a number of programmes, such as Science for Ukraine, support is being provided to Ukrainian researchers, but a gap exists in the assistance offered to the staff working alongside researchers in knowledge generation: the librarians, editors, technicians, and administrative staff at universities, research institutes, and other infrastructures.
In May this year, DOAJ joined Supporting Ukrainian Editorial Staff (SUES), a partnership offering help to staff supporting researchers in Ukraine, the workforce at the heart of scholarly publishing. The initiative was launched in the recognition that preservation of knowledge, expertise, and knowledge-sharing capabilities of these scientific communities is of vital importance for scholarly publishing in Ukraine in the country and internationally.
SUES is led by the remarkable efforts of the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL-PAN, OPERAS) and in partnership with others European institutions, infrastructures, and organizations including the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), Association of European University Presses (AEUP) and several French scientific publishers. The ultimate aim of the partnership is to help scholarly journals and academic publishers continue their publishing activities through offering support to the editors, reviewers, typesetters, proofreaders, translators, and technical and administrative staff working in the various Ukrainian publishing centres, see this video for more details.
At the start of the initiative an initial questionnaire was circulated to Ukrainian journals and publishers in an effort to accurately identify their financial and technical support needs. Over 110 responses were recorded with varying requests for assistance, but many related to remuneration for editorial work enabling staff to continue and publish the next issue of their journal or book. SUES have carried out extensive interviews with 10 journal editors in Ukraine, each of these can be viewed here on You Tube and demonstrate the diversity of content being produced in the country.
SUES launched a crowdfunding campaign with the initial intention of offering temporary financial help to 10 Ukrainian journals or publishers, thus helping them to keep up production of their journals. By the end of the campaign the funds raised had far exceeded the initial target, with a total of 67,000 Euros donated by individuals, institutions, and publishers. SUES formed a Scientific Committee to consider each of the journals who had requested financial assistance, taking into account recent issues, open access policy, plans, presence in journal indexes, location in regions directly affected by the war, interest in further cooperation with SUES partners, and expression of needs. Not all journals requested financial assistance, other needs included support for capacity building and with developing good open access policies. Thanks to the funds raised it is now hoped that scholarships will be offered to around 45 journals and publishers in Ukraine. Other activities were also identified such as mentoring for journal editors on open access standards for potential inclusion in DOAJ.
Going forward, DOAJ and other partners have committed to producing webinars to support the network of Ukrainian journal staff, including advice on inclusion in the DOAJ index. SUES also holds longer-term aspirations to strengthen relationships, exchange knowledge and ensure the ongoing international presence and visibility of Ukrainian academic publishers into the future. The SUES Scientific Committee has also expressed its awe for the diversity and quality of Ukrainian scholarly journals. They see the current SUES actions as a temporary measure and a pilot programme for a more sustainable action and are calling upon the European Commission and ministries of science of the European countries to provide funds for a more comprehensive support programme.
Links –
SUES website - https://www.operas-eu.org/projects/sues/