The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) is launching IJTLD Open, a new open access journal to improve and broaden access to scientific knowledge.
IJTLD Open will sit alongside its sister journal the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD). Until now, the IJTLD has operated as a hybrid journal, with both subscription content and open access (OA) articles. However, several funding agencies (including WHO, Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust) have mandated their researchers to publish exclusively in fully OA journals, and hybrid journals are no longer supported.
Professor Giovanni Battista Migliori, Editor-in-Chief of the IJTLD commented: “The challenge for the IJTLD is that many of our authors are based in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs) and do not have funding for OA. These authors therefore require a subscription journal to provide a free-to-publish option. Our response to this changing landscape is to maintain the IJTLD, and also launch the IJTLD Open. This approach allows us to preserve a platform for authors in LMICs, while also having a fully compliant OA journal to enhance our coverage of TB and lung disease.”
The IJTLD Open officially launches on 1st January 2024 with a call for papers – further details are available here.
Hugh Blackbourn, Director of Publications at The Union, said: “A key part of the Union’s mission is the effective dissemination of knowledge, so we are delighted to launch a new OA journal with no barriers to access. However, we are also aware that many recently launched OA journals are perceived to be of lower quality. To protect the reputation of our journals, IJTLD Open will share the same values, scope and Editorial Board as its sister title, with an identical peer review process and acceptance criteria. We believe this approach will preserve the integrity of our journals and further improve access to important scientific knowledge.”
Authors for both journals will submit their manuscripts via the same portal and manuscripts will be evaluated solely on scientific merit. The only change will occur after a paper has been accepted: authors with funding for OA will be published in IJTLD Open; those without will be published in the IJTLD.
For more information, please visit: theunion.org/our-work/journals/ijtld-open