The Public Knowledge Project and Open Journal Systems: open source options for small publishers

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) and its open source software development projects, with a particular focus on Open Journal Systems (OJS), an online journal publishing platform now used by over 11,500 journals around the world. OJS is just one of many examples of software and services that provide new and cost‐effective alternatives, especially for small scholarly societies and commercial publishers. The development of online publishing, open source software, and virtual communities are together opening up new opportunities for scholars, researchers, societies, small publishers, and librarians to reassert their independence and control over the publishing process, and provides a wider range of options than has ever existed before.