PKP Preservation Network

PKP has developed the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) to digitally preserve OJS journals. The LOCKSS program offers decentralized and distributed preservation, seamless perpetual access, and preservation of the authentic original version of the content. The PKP PN ensures that journals that are not part of any other digital preservation service (such as CLOCKSS or Portico) can be preserved for long-term access.

See the PKP Preservation Network Guide for additional details about the PKP PN and how to use it. This earlier discussion document also provides a high level overview.

Overview

The PKP PN:

  • provides preservation services for any OJS journal that has published at least one article and has an ISSN and is running OJS 3.1.2 or newer
  • allows OJS journal managers to register their journals for inclusion in the PKP PN by simply enabling a plugin in their OJS instance and agreeing to the terms of the Preservation Agreement
  • on registration of a journal, automatically determines if the registered journal meets the minimum inclusion requirements
  • preserves the raw journal content as generated by OJS’s existing export tools
  • automatically harvests new content from registered journals and adds the content to the PKP PN, eliminating manual staff intervention at PN member sites
  • provides access to preserved content after a “trigger event”

End-user access to journals in the PKP PN

The PKP PN is a dark archive. End users will not have access to the preserved content until after a “trigger event.” After a trigger event, PKP staff will approve the importing of the preserved content into one or more OJS instances hosted by PKP member institutions. Once loaded into these host OJS instances, the content will be openly accessible.

Trigger events in the PKP PN

Preserved content in the PKP PN is only made available to users after a trigger event, at which time the content will be made accessible to the reading public. The PKP PN defines two types of trigger events.

  1. Explicit notification by OJS Journal Manager
  2. Cessation of deposits into the PKP PN (after a period of inactivity)

The PKP PN will employ automated techniques to detect a potential trigger event and contact the journal to confirm their publication status.

Preservation agreement (Journal terms)

Journal managers who would like their journal to be included in the PKP PN need to accept the Journal Terms via the LOCKSS OJS plugin. This agreement describes what is being preserved, the nature of the PKP’s commitment to preserve their journal, PKP’s right to preserve the journal, that the content will be made accessible after a trigger event (as described above), and how they should contact the PKP to initiate a trigger event. After a trigger event, PKP intends to make content accessible via a special OJS instance that will be operated by the PN.

*See below for journal terms.

OJS PKP PN plugin

To start working with the PKP PN, log into your OJS 3.x journal with a site administrator account. Find the Plugin Gallery. You should see the PKP|PN plugin listed there; install it.

Find the plugin in the installed plugin list. Enable it, and open its settings to see the terms of use. You’ll need to agree with the terms of use before you can begin using the PKP PN.

(Additional LOCKSS-based solutions for OJS content are described on the LOCKSS website.)

PKP PN nodes

PKP members who are participating in the PN by hosting a preservation node:

  • University of Alberta
  • University of British Columbia
  • Indiana University
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • University of Victoria
  • Simon Fraser University
  • Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL), Scholars Portal
  • National Documentation Centre (EKT), Greece

In addition, PKP is working with other potential preservation nodes and networks around the world to provide further redundancy and geographical distribution within the PKP PN.

PKP PN Advisory Panel Members

  • Lars Bjornshauge, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • Sioux Cumming, International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP)
  • Alan Darnell, Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL)
  • Geoff Harder, University of Alberta Libraries
  • Alex Mendonça, SciELO
  • Susan Murray, African Journals Online (AJOL)
  • Victoria Reich, LOCKSS
  • Heather Joseph, SPARC
  • Dwayne K. Buttler, J.D., University of Louisville

Joining the PKP PN

All journals can join the PKP PN provided they meet the following criteria:

  • The journal must be running a compatible version of OJS
  • The journal must have an ISSN
  • The journal must have published at least one article

If your journal meets these criteria, you can have it preserved in the PKP PN by accepting the Terms of Use.

Your journal’s content (retrospective and new) will be automatically added to the PKP PN after you have agreed to the Journal Terms. You will not need to take any further action. The only exception is that if the terms of use  change in the future, you will be asked to re-confirm your acceptance. In this situation, OJS will provide a notification to visit the PKP PN plugin’s administration page so you can agree to the updated Journal  Terms.

Support

For any support issues, please post on our PKP Community Forum.

* Journal terms

As Primary Contact I, in good faith, accept and confirm the following terms and conditions for participation in the Public Knowledge Project’s Preservation Network (PKP PN):

  1. I have the authority to include this journal’s content in a secure preservation network and, if and when necessary, to make the content accessible in the PKP PNN and its successors.
  2. I agree to allow the PKP PN to include this journal’s title and ISSN, and the email address of the Primary Contact, with the preserved journal content.
  3. I confirm that licensing information pertaining to articles in this journal is accurate at the time of publication.
  4. I acknowledge these terms may be revised from time to time and will supersede all previous versions.  I will be asked to review them and to agree to them in order to continue to include this journal’s content in the PKP PN.
  5. I agree not to violate any laws and regulations that may be applicable to the content.
  6. I agree to make every reasonable effort to inform the PKP PN in the event this journal ceases publication.  I acknowledge that PKP PN will also employ automated techniques to detect a potential trigger event and contact the journal to confirm their publication status.
  7. I agree that the PKP PN reserves the right, not to preserve or make content accessible.
  8. PKP reserves the right to use the aggregated content in the PKP PN for research and reporting purposes and will adhere to the norms of standard research procedures.

Project JASPER

Project JASPER (JournAlS are Preserved forevER) is an initiative to preserve open access journals. It was launched on World Preservation Day 2020 and is in response to research that shows that online journals—both open and closed access journals—can just disappear from the internet. This happens because of a lack of awareness amongst smaller publishers around the need for long-term digital preservation and/or the resources to enroll a journal in a long-term digital preservation scheme.

Long-term archiving of research resources is of paramount importance for scholarship. Authors want to ensure their contributions to the scholarly record will be permanent. Scholars must be able to access all of the published research in their fields, both now and long into the future.

Project JASPER aims to close the gap in preservation coverage that currently exists among open access journals. It is a partnership led by DOAJ and including CLOCKSSKeepers RegistryInternet Archive and PKP as participants. PKP is contributing to this project by developing better documentation and support efforts for existing OJS users to understand and implement the preservation mechanisms available to them (whether the PN, CLOCKSS, Internet Archive or another option), and by working with the other project partners to improve outreach and communications supporting these tools. We are also actively working with the group on making the path to having a viable preservation solution easier for OA journals.

Questions? Email us, or take a look at our primary project page.