Certification Service (PRISM)
Based on Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) Platform
Provided by DOAB Stichting (NL)
The Certification Service has been developed thanks to the Horizon 2020 EU HIRMEOS project. The Peer Review Information Service for Monographs (PRISM) is offered to publishers who have registered with Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), and is provided by DOAB Foundation on behalf of the OPERAS community. PRISM is currently operating in beta phase and will move into production in 2022. PRISM collects the variety of peer reviewing practices from hundreds of monograph publishing houses, categorizes them, and provides a single access point to the list of certified peer reviewed monographs available in Open Access in the world. The Certification Service operates as a quality insurance service for the benefit of readers and the service providers working with them, such as the libraries.
The Certification Service currently operates as a beta service. Its full release is planned for 2022.
The Certification Service is integrated in the EOSC Market Place : https://marketplace.eosc-portal.eu/services/operas-certification-doab
Status: Active
Timeline: Currently beta, full release in 2022
Current usage:
Unique selling point: The Directory of Open Access Books certifies that publishers are correctly following peer-reviewing standards.
Service area/category: Certification, Peer-review
Service agreement:
Pricing: Free for users, free for publishers
Access to the service: https://www.doabooks.org/en/librarians/prism
Contact for the service: technical-support@operas-eu.org
More details:
Criteria for inclusion
PRISM is based on a review of three elements:
- The publisher’s peer review process
- The licensing policy
- The information on the publisher’s website
PRISM procedure
Publishers need to apply for the PRISM service through an online application process. They are asked to provide information about the elements that will be reviewed, including links to the information on their website. DOAB reviews the application, classifies the peer review process, and checks the information on the publisher’s website.
Terms and conditions
Publishers can request to be included in PRISM if they agree to the terms and conditions of the service. Publishers need to provide correct information and may be suspended from using PRISM if there is evidence that the information they provided is incorrect. Suspended publishers may be required to reapply for the service and their inclusion may be revoked. DOAB reserves the right to announce such measures through its media channels.
Peer Review Information application
The following are the current questions provided to a publisher wishing to take part in PRISM. The publisher needs to answer these questions and the answers will be reviewed by DOAB. Subsequently, DOAB will decide on including the publisher.
- Review timing – Question A: At what stage is the peer review being conducted?
- Reviewed object – Question B: What is being reviewed?
- Review Process – Question C: Who conducts the PR?
- Review Process – Question D: Level of openness?
- Decision process – Question E: Who oversees the peer review process?
Find detailed answers to this questions here.