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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black;background:white'>Dear Colleagues<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black;background:white'>It is often challenging to distinguish high quality Open Access journals from questionable journals. The <a href="https://doaj.org/">DOAJ</a> tries to address this challenge through evaluating all OA journals. It is a community driven project, belongs to the scholarly community, and is supported by key and prominent <a href="https://doaj.org/sponsors">stakeholders</a>. Strict <a href="https://doaj.org/publishers">criteria</a> is used by experts in scholarly publication to evaluate all OA journals, and only those that adhere to the very high criteria are listed and indexed in the end. In addition to the experts, DOAJ relies on the scholarly community to communicate any problems or discrepancies to them at <a href="https://doaj.org/contact">https://doaj.org/contact</a> To be considered for inclusion, Open Access journals need to submit an <a href="https://doaj.org/application/new">application form</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:black;background:white'>During the last 32 months DOAJ has accepted 3,700 journals, rejected 6,500 applications, monitored journals on a daily basis, removed 1,450 journals and delisted 2,850 journals for not re-applying to stay indexed. DOAJ also receives more than 300 new applications per month. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><a href="https://doajournals.wordpress.com/2016/12/23/update-on-reapplications-and-new-applications/">https://doajournals.wordpress.com/2016/12/23/update-on-reapplications-and-new-applications/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>With the help of the community, DOAJ is working towards a streamlined, up-to-date, clean database of trusted Open Access journals.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>Kind regards<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>Ina<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Ina Smith</span></b><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Planning Manager, Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)<br>DOAJ Ambassador, Southern Africa Region<br>LIASA Librarian of the Year 2016<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://orcid.org/"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#338CAF;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=16 height=16 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.gif@01D2755C.62A70640" alt="http://orcid.org/sites/default/files/images/orcid_16x16(1).gif"></span></a><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'> <a href="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9710-3668"><span style='color:#0563C1'>http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9710-3668 </span></a></span><u><span style='color:#0563C1'><o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Switchboard: +27 12 349 6600 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Tel: +27 12 349 6641 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Fax: +27 (0) 86 576 9512<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Email: </span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><a href="mailto:ina@assaf.org.za"><span style='color:#0563C1;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>ina@assaf.org.za</span></a></span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#1F497D'><img border=0 width=184 height=75 id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D2755D.67418080" alt=assafemail></span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>1st Floor Block A, The Woods, 41 De Havilland Crescent, Persequor Park <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Meiring Naudé Road, Lynnwood 0020, Pretoria, South Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>PO Box 72135, Lynnwood Ridge 0040, Pretoria, South Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Website: </span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><a href="http://www.assaf.org.za/"><span style='color:#0563C1;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>www.assaf.org.za</span></a></span><i><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> </span></i><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>