Open Access Week Interview: Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies

Finishing our Open Access Week interview series, the Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies. Responses provided by Associate Editor, Philip Gooding.

Why do you think it’s important for your journal to be open access?
As the first scholarly journal dedicated to Indian Ocean World Studies, we were (and remain) adamant that the JIOWS must be open access. We are acutely aware of the inequities of access to subscription-based journals between institutions, particularly between the Global North and Global South. Thus, given that the JIOWS focuses on a macro-region in the Global South, it is especially incumbent on us to not directly contribute to these inequities further with our subscription policy. The nature of our field and our place in it demands that our journal be open access, and we have responded accordingly.

What are some of the challenges in running an open access journal?
The major challenges are funding and related matters. Our aim is to make the JIOWS accessible across global and institutional borders to both readers and contributors. We thus do not charge article processing fees. In the absence of specific institutional funding, therefore, making the JIOWS a success is largely a ‘labour of love.’ In addition to the usual tasks that editors take on, such as identifying and contacting peer reviewers and making editorial decisions, we are also responsible for copyediting and typesetting. Funding for these crucial aspects of the JIOWS would put it on a surer footing moving forwards.

We are acutely aware of the inequities of access to subscription-based journals between institutions, particularly between the Global North and Global South. Thus, given that the JIOWS focuses on a macro-region in the Global South, it is especially incumbent on us to not directly contribute to these inequities further with our subscription policy. The nature of our field and our place in it demands that our journal be open access, and we have responded accordingly

Can you highlight any articles/issues published in your journal that you think made an important contribution to the field?
We are incredibly proud of all the articles we have published in the JIOWS. The two special issues led by Iain Walker and Martin Slama (Vol. 4, Iss. 2, 2021 and Vol. 6, Iss. 1, 2022) stand out as making important contributions to diaspora studies, showing how case studies from the Indian Ocean World challenge previously held assumptions about what constitutes a diaspora in different global regions. This is a major contribution that is receiving significant attention outside of our geographic field. We are also particularly proud of our State of the Field series, which was launched in 2021. The two works published so far, respectively written by Edward A. Alpers (Vol. 5, Iss. 1, 2021) and Rosabelle Boswell (Vol. 6, Iss. 2, 2022) represent important reference works on the disciplines of history and oceanic humanities in the Indian Ocean World. The ways these pieces are framed are such that they are particularly useful for undergraduates and senior scholars alike, as well as everyone in between.