Open Access Journal Publishing in Sri Lanka: Characteristics and Future Potential

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the problems faced by the scholarly journal publishing industry in Sri Lanka and to explore the opportunities provided by online open access publishing to overcome those problems. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this study. A literature review was used to identify the problems faced by developing countries, including Sri Lanka, in scholarly journal publishing. Open access journals published in Sri Lanka were identified through secondary sources such as open access journal directories and indexing services. Data were manually collected by accessing eighty-four (84) journal homepages systematically through the links provided by above directories and indexing services. The study has found that Sri Lanka faces problems similar to the other developing countries in the scholarly journal publishing. At the same time, the study has recognized open access as an opportunity for Sri Lankan scholarly journals to overcome those issues. Suggestions were made to improve the open access journal publishing in Sri Lanka and measures were suggested to overcome possible future drawbacks. Despite several studies related to open access initiatives, there have been no substantial studies on open access journal publishing in Sri Lanka. Hence, the present study intended to fill that gap by reviewing related literature and analyzing open access journals published in Sri Lanka