PDXScholar Journal Publishing Policy

PDXScholar, hosted on Digital Commons platform, provides software to manage and publish journals electronically, including the online submission of manuscripts, distribution of manuscripts for anonymous peer review, publication of accepted manuscripts, and archiving of content. Starting a new journal in PDXScholar is subject to the following policies and procedures.

Policies

  1. PDXScholar must serve as the primary publishing platform
  2. Journals are by nature a continuing resource and require a demonstrated commitment to long-term sustainability. To this purpose, a request to start a new journal must include the following:
    • Proposed name for the journal
    • Description of the journal including:
      • Aims and scope
      • Frequency of publication
      • What the selection process for the content is e.g.; peer reviewed or editorial board
      • Whether the journal will be open access
    • Name of the faculty member or staff member who is initiating the request and who will serve as the managing editor
    • List of names of individuals who will serve on the editorial board. (The editorial board will be the body that oversees the editorial policies and manages the peer review procedures. At least one Portland State University faculty member must be on the editorial board to help ensure continuity.)
    • Brief statement documenting the plan to keep the journal going including the first 2 issues (subsequent issues)
  3. The Library promotes open access publications meaning that their content is by nature free of price barriers (subscription or other fees) and ideally free of permission barriers (copyright and licensing restrictions). PDXScholar is an open access platform and utilizes the Creative Commons permissions framework for indicating allowed rights to published content. The Library will consult with you on Creative Commons licensing.
  4. Authors will not be required to transfer copyright of the works submitted. They will be required to grant Portland State University the non-exclusive right to copy, display, and distribute the content submitted to PDXScholar and make this work available in any format in perpetuity, for educational or research purposes. All authors must sign an agreement form prior to publication to deposit their work in Digital Commons for permanent archiving. Removal of content is not allowed from peer reviewed series and journals. However, removal may be legally required, or special circumstances intervene such as factual inaccuracy, plagiarism, or potential copyright infringement.
  5. Peer-reviewed journals should have an editorial board to oversee editorial policies and manage peer review procedures. At least one Portland State faculty member must be on the editorial board to help ensure continuity. Editorial board members will be posted on the journal information page.
  6. Advertising and promotion of the journal are the responsibility of the publishing editors or department.
  7. Upon approval the Library will assist with setting up the journal in Digital Commons and provide necessary training to use the journal interface and manage submission and editorial processes. The Digital Initiatives Coordinator at the Library will serve as a liaison between journal editors and BePress Support to address any issues or problems with the software. The Library will submit a request for an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) to the Library of Congress at www.loc.gov/issn. Once the journal has been established, the Library will include the journal title in the library’s catalog as well as in Primo to create additional access points for the journal. Additional the library will assign and register through CrossRef a DOI for each article published.
  8. If no new content or issues are produced for three consecutive years, the journal will be considered to have ceased publication. The Digital Initiatives Coordinator will contact the publishing editors or departments and confirm that the journal is no longer being published and appropriate notices will be added to the journal information page.

Procedures

Please email pdxscholar@pdx.edu to express interest in publishing a peer-reviewed journal in PDXScholar. The Digital Initiatives Coordinator will get in touch with relevant information about setting up a journal. All requests for new journals will be reviewed and approved by the Library.

Following implementation of the journal and training by Library staff, the journal’s editorial board will be responsible for the following:

  • Approve design of the journal layout and content in Digital Commons
  • Journal staff will be responsible for uploading content to the journal site.
  • The journal’s editors will be responsible for managing the workflows for their journal from submission to final publication.
  • Journal editor responsible to notify when issue has been published