[Note: I’m exploring ways to improve the functionality of the wiki feature so have temporarily disabled it. Thus, the process for editing, described in the last section, will not work. In the meantime, if you would like to see a journal added or any info edited, please email me at [email protected].]
The Wiki List of Criminology Journals helps you answer two questions: What criminology journals are out there? For each, what is its policy on Open Access (OA)?1 This information is needed to make OA an important part of deciding where to publish; and, after a work is accepted for publication, to legally maximize its accessibility. To best use and contribute to the list, first you will need the answers to a few other questions.
There is not an easy, fast way to find a comprehensive list of criminology journals. The current lists are either outdated,2 focused on “top” outlets,3 or behind a paywall.4 No existing list provides information on journals’ accessibility, such as whether they are diamond, gold, or hybrid outlets; and, if hybrid, allow instant or embargoed green access. Nor can any existing list be edited and thereby improved by its users. All of that is an impediment to making criminology works free to everyone.
A wiki is “a hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience directly using a web browser.”5 As that definition implies, this page’s users are responsible for its usefulness — a reflection of its comprehensiveness and validity. In the Wiki List of Criminology Journals, you are asked to make two types of contributions:
If you notice that a journal is missing, add it.
If you notice that information for a journal is wrong, fix it. This may involve updating the link in a footnote or recategorizing the journal. It could also involve small changes, like fixing a typo or correcting the alphabetical order.
Further below are instruction on how exactly to edit. Also, you may want to consult the article, Determining Copyright at Criminology Journals. Speaking of which, here is a disclaimer: You should verify a journal’s copyright prior to acting on it. If you violate copyright, that is not my fault (xoxo). Further below are instruction on how exactly to edit.
Conceptually, there is a clear line between a “criminology” journal and others: the former focuses on (an aspect of) making laws, breaking them, and responding to that.6 If a journal does not have that focus then, by definition, it is not a criminology journal. Practically, however, that definition is not so simple to apply. Some journals have criminology as part of its foci. There are many examples, including the American Journal of Sociology, Deviant Behavior, International Journal of Drug Policy, and Psychological Review. For this wiki, editors should exercise discretion: When a journal is not wholly a criminology journal, you may add it if you think a fair number of criminologists want to know about it.7 If the answer is not obvious, then it is probably not needed on the list.
Information is easier to understand when consistently formatted. Please do not edit anything other than the list, but you are encouraged to make comments at the end of this page or email me at [email protected]. To edit, you may want a PubPub account. Edits should maintain the following format.
Journals are categorized by access, defined
Diamond
Gold
Hybrid
Instant Green Access
Partially Embargoed Green Access
Entirely Embargoed Green Access
Within each category, journals are listed alphabetically.
The hyperlink overlaying a journal’s title directs to its homepage.
The name after a journal, found in parentheses, is its publisher
When a journal self-publishes, the publisher is put as “by journal”.
The first footnote directs to a journal’s or publisher’s webpage that demonstrates the journal fits within the category (e.g., Diamond Journals, Gold Journals, etc.)
For hybrid journals, there is a second footnote that directs to a journal’s or publisher’s webpage that specifies the journal’s applicable green access policy.
Create and log into your PubPub account; the upper right corner of this page enables you to do so.
Go to this page.
On that page, make the edit(s).
Once done, click “Request Publication”; add a note describing what you did; and click “Create Review”.