Turkey’s expanding participation in the biomedical open access literature movement
You can search the journal database maintained by the online Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) for countries where open access journals are published, which will provide a comparative statistical barometer of open access activity. As of today, here is an interesting comparison of locally published open access:
June 13th 2011 DOAJ Search Result
| Country | # of OA Journals | # of Biomedical OA Journals added in 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| France | 133 | 3 out of 36 added in 2010 |
| Italy | 174 | 15 out of 47 added in 2010 |
| Columbia | 131 | 6 out of 19 added in 2010 |
| Turkey | 163 | 15 out of 36 added in 2010 |
I think the unexpected result that we should take notice of is the growing representation of Turkish open access biomedical journals. What were the Turkish open access biomedical journals launched in 2010?
- Anatolian Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
- Cumhuriyet Medical Journal
- Düşünen Adam : Journal of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences
- Eurasian Journal of Medicine
- Journal of Academic Emergency Medicine
- Journal of Clinical and Experimental Investigations
- Journal of Dialog in Endocrinology
- Journal of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
- Konuralp Tip Dergisi
- Medical Journal of Bakirköy
- Pamukkale Journal of Sport Sciences
- Türk Hijyen ve Deneysel Biyoloji Dergisi
- Türk Nöroloji Dergisi
- Turkish Journal of Medical and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine
- Turkish Journal of Oncology
The publishers range from institutional sponsorship (e.g. Cumhuriyet Medical Journal (CMJ) is the official publication of Cumhuriyet University School of Medicine in Sivas) to scientific society sponsorship (e.g. Türk Nöroloji Dergisi, the Turkish Journal of Neurology, published by the Turkish Society of Neurology). My inspection of these new biomedical journal titles in 2010 found none with any sort of processing charge and most to have an explicit peer review protocol.
Turkey (source: WHO)
There are more than 36 accredited schools of medicine in Turkey, and many of the biomedical open access journals from Turkey adopt an institutional identity. A World Bank-OECD 2008 review (PDF) of Turkey’s health system cites recent positive health reform aspects such as
“public specialist services of a reasonable underlying quality in many parts of Turkey, a vibrant private sector, upward momentum in levels of health status in the population and a government and a Ministry of Health committed to providing access to quality services to the entire population, but especially to the poor and other underserved groups…The steps taken to implement the HTP (Health Transformation Programme) appear to have made significant improvements to the performance of the system.” (pp 107-108)
The substantial grow of open biomedical literature can be viewed as a companion outcome of recent improvements in organized, government-funded health care.
