Abstract

This study aims to assess the maturity of Korean open access (OA) journals using the OA infrastructure provided by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, and develop necessary strategies for future improvement. The assessment model consists of three dimensions, 12 items, and 24 sub-items. The importance of the three dimensions (A: OA policy establishment and disclosure, B: OA sustainability, and C: Journal openness quality) was differentiated by the Analytic Hierarchy Process, and the maturity stages were divided into five levels (Entry, Growth1, Growth2, Maturity1, and Maturity2). The assessment was carried out twice for 100 academic journals. The results indicated that the proportion of journals at or above the Growth1 level increased by 11% to reach 83% during the second assessment phase, which could be owing to the learnings of the first assessment. Following expert consultations on the assessment results, three support measures were identified to activate OA. The first includes OA promotion and education activities, which involve creating standard regulations and guidelines, and advancing educational activities for societies that are either preparing for or currently implementing OA. The second involves providing support for technical aspects, such as identifiers, XMLization, and copyright management, through peer review and OA publishing platforms. The third includes collaborative activities to enhance journal evaluations and the recognition criteria for researchers’ achievements in OA journals, and fostering cooperation with national and research and development institutions for financial support.