DARIAH overlay journal

The OPERAS Innovation Lab has published a post, DARIAH overlay journal as an alternative and transparent publishing model, about a new overlay-journal platform which will be enhanced by COAR Notify.

They include a succinct and useful definition of an overlay journal:

An overlay journal is an innovative type of scholarly publication that operates on top of pre-existing data repositories and preprint servers. Unlike traditional journals, overlay journals do not host content themselves. Instead, they select, peer review and formally publish links to content that is already hosted on other platforms, such as HAL or arXiv, or institutional repositories.

This approach, of services utilising and adding value to content from the distributed network of repositories, is very much aligned with the philosophy underpinning the COAR Notify initiative. Furthermore, the overlay journal concept embraces the pass by reference principle which is at the heart of the COAR Notify protocol.

I am very pleased to see that the DARIAH overlay journal will make use of the COAR Notify Protocol. This should not be surprising, as the DARIAH overlay journal will be based on the Episciences platform, which is another implementing partner in the COAR Notify initiative.