Just nine months after its creation, UK-based ‘gold’ open access publisher Social Sciences Directory announces the publication of its first issue on September 24th 2012. Social Sciences Directory is a multi-disciplinary journal that is published online-only.

It brings together both scholarly peer-reviewed research and additional value-added content (such as case studies, presentations, reports and conference proceedings), on a platform that is easily navigable and responsive to changing user behaviour. A central concept is that most research is now carried out online using keyword searches, and Social Sciences Directory simplifies the process by: removing individual journal titles in favour of a large repository; and by making the resulting content freely available. Submissions have been received from the UK, Australia, France, Brazil, Ethiopia, India and Kenya, whilst editors and reviewers from all over the world have offered their services, demonstrating an appetite and widespread support for the initiative.

Dan Scott, founder and director, commented: “Having worked in subscription publishing for years, I heard academics and librarians complain about it but say there was no viable alternative. Our first issue, which has been created by a team of volunteer editors, authors and reviewers, with very little funding, will demonstrate that quality research can be rapidly peer-reviewed and published. Open access publishing provides significant benefits for authors and readers alike in widening access, allowing author copyright retention and providing better value-for-money for taxpayers. We will do so by charging very low article processing charges (GBP100/USD150/EUR120) and offering low-cost institutional memberships (GBP2,000/USD3,000/EUR2,400). Core to our thinking is that Social Sciences Directory provides a platform for published research across a broad range of disciplinary areas and from a wide international catchment. We intend to publish a regular schedule of research going forwards, as well as launching a sister website Humanities Directory in the next few months.”

The first issue will contain papers on:

• Making successful transition to retirement in Australia

• Knowledge, attitude and belief of pregnant women in India

• Gender equality in the work place

ENDS

24.09.12

NOTE TO EDITORS:

Social Sciences Directory Limited was founded in 2012 by Dan Scott, as a ‘gold’ open access publisher. It was set up in reaction to many well-known issues in scholarly publishing such as IP, the quantity of wasted material, outdated methodologies and unsustainable costs at a time of widespread budget austerity. It has established two websites, Social Sciences Directory which is ‘live’ and Humanities Directory, which is in the process of being set up and aims to publish its first issue in late 2012 or early 2013. Social Sciences Directory is an affiliate member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA). Dan Scott will be a speaker at the Munin open access conference at the University of Tromsø, Norway (21-23 November 2012).

Call for papers (http://socialsciencesdirectory.com/index.php/socscidir/article/view/33).

For further information, please contact Daniel Scott, Director, Social Sciences Directory Limited on +44 (0)1423 326 257 or +44 (0)770 381 2042.

Email dan.scott@socialsciencesdirectory.com; dan.scott@humanitiesdirectory.com URL www.socialsciencesdirectory.com; www.humanitiesdirectory.com