Some time ago, I wrote a post (https://michaelschoon.com/2011/06/21/international-journal-of-the-commons-now-on-scopus/) about how IJC was finally being recognized by Scopus, the primary academic indexing organization in Europe. I am happy to say that after two more years of sweat equity, the International Journal of the Commons (http://www.thecommonsjournal.org) is now recognized by ISI, the leading publishing group in the US.
The importance of this stems from being an open access journal. It seems that Open Access publishing is a real touchstone in academia now with a slew of articles in the Chronicle, on academic blogs, and through the big-time publishing houses. Many of the charges against open access publishing are ridiculous, but a number of unscrupulous, for-profit open-access journals create an atmosphere where publication seems based solely on ability to pay. This is decidedly not what open access publishing is about.
IJC publications are paid by the contributing authors after rigorous peer review (with exceptions made for developing country authorship). This is where ISI recognition helps. It shows that our journal abides by stringent standards, publishes high quality literature, and contributes to the scientific advancement of society. At the same time, authors retain their copyrights, articles are accessible anywhere there is an internet connection for free, and our readership can move to practitioner and developing country readers beyond the paywalls of the main publishing companies. ISI examined our 7 years of publication, the quality of our authors, the citation rates for the articles, and the consistency of publication.
Congratulations to my co-editor and friend, Frank van Laerhoven, to Erling Berge for his editorial prowess over the past several years, to our outstanding editorial board, to the institutional support of IASC, and, most importantly, to our diligent and dedicated reviewers. Without all of your help, this achievement would not be possible. Thank you!
michaelschoon 