Walt at Random

The hundreds (dozens? anybody?) tracking GOA26 progress may have wondered why Week Fifteen didn’t appear on Wednesday, April 15.

Well, there were taxes…but that wasn’t the reason.

The trackpad buttons on my aging notebook started getting sticky a few weeks ago–and last weekend, the right button seems to have broken. And somewhere in the process of trying to baby the keys along (I’ll get a new notebook, but preferably not mid-project), I did something a bur clumsily, and in the process deleted the 2025 column for a chunk of the spreadsheet. And discovered how helpful File History was: not at all. in this case.

So I’ve spent several days doing a partial rescan of that chunk, which I just finished. Some real-world stuff is also happening, but by Monday I should  be back in business, finishing Week 15 somewhat belatedly. Best guess is that there are two weeks left for the first pass, so the first pass should be done around the end of the month. Then comes the second pass, the data massaging, and the books.

If you’re wondering: I had a Microsoft Optical Mouse lying around, which is now plugged in and replacing the trackpad and buttons (locked out in software). Not clear that it’s feasible to repair the buttons.

A strong week. With luck, only two weeks left for the first pass.

1,500 journals scanned for a total to date of 20,000. [2,416 remain.]

• 7,157 with fees, 12,843 no fees (diamond)
• 2,016 new, 17,984 continuing
• 1,484,428 2025 articles; 1,379,658 2024 articles.
• Special cases include 432 bi (inactive); 228 xd (expired/defunct); 122 xj (removed from DOAJ since 1/1/26); 670 xm/xm2 (malware or certificate issues); 23 xn (not an OA journal, including login requirements); 1,510 xx/xx2 (unavailable or unworkable).
• So far, 2,411 need to be retested.

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A decent week.

1,300 journals scanned for a total to date of 18,500. [3,917 remain.]

• 6,559 with fees, 11,941 no fees (diamond)
• 1,866 new, 16,634 continuing
• 1,447,166 2025 articles; 1,339,891 2024 articles.
• Special cases include 404 bi (inactive); 221 xd (expired/defunct); 96 xj (removed from DOAJ since 1/1/26); 512 xm/xm2 (malware or certificate issues); 23 xn (not an OA journal, including login requirements); 1,402 xx/xx2 (unavailable or unworkable).
• So far, 2,188 need to be retested.

For more frequent updates, follow #goa26 on “the Fediverse” (Mastodon et al) or follow me on Mastodon.

A lesser week, as mid-April nears and other real-life obligations take place.

1,100 journals scanned for a total to date of 17,200.

• 6,402 with fees, 10,798 no fees (diamond)
• 1,795 new, 15,405 continuing
• 1,408,555 2025 articles; 1,298,505 2024 articles.
• Special cases include 369 bi (inactive); 208 xd (expired/defunct); 60 xj (removed from DOAJ since 1/1/26); 478 xm/xm2 (malware or certificate issues); 21 xn (not an OA journal, including login requirements); 1,328 xx/xx2 (unavailable or unworkable).
• So far, 2,044 need to be retested.

For more frequent updates, follow #goa26 on “the Fediverse” (Mastodon et al) or follow me on Mastodon.

Another decent week.

1,440 journals scanned for a total to date of 16,100.

• 6,390 with fees, 9,710 no fees (diamond)
• 1,746 new, 14,354 continuing
• 1,382,138 2025 articles; 1,270,599 2024 articles.
• Special cases include 350 bi (inactive); 201 xd (expired/defunct); 57 xj (removed from DOAJ since 1/1/26); 463 xm/xm2 (malware or certificate issues); 21 xn (not an OA journal, including login requirements); 1,265 xx/xx2 (unavailable or unworkable).
• So far, 1,922 need to be retested.

We’re now in The U’s–by far the largest group of publishers. So far, I’ve checked 560 of the U journals, leaving a mere 4,891 to go.

For more frequent updates, follow #goa26 on “the Fediverse” (Mastodon et al) or follow me on Mastodon.

Another decent week.

1,360 journals scanned for a total to date of 14,660.

• 5,888 with fees, 8,772 no fees (diamond)
• 1,611 new, 13,049 continuing
• 1,309,008 2025 articles; 1,197,589 2024 articles.
• Special cases include 323 bi (inactive); 184 xd (expired/defunct); 53 xj (removed from DOAJ since 1/1/26); 425 xm/xm2 (malware or certificate issues); 21 xn (not an OA journal, including login requirements); 1,151 xx/xx2 (unavailable or unworkable).
• So far, 1,779 need to be retested.

For more frequent updates, follow #goa26 on “the Fediverse” (Mastodon et al) or follow me on Mastodon.

Another decent week.

NOTE: There will be a lot more “real life” slowdown at least between now and, say, April 15–some days with 100 journals, possibly some with none at all. At some point, it’s possible that my original target (book and uploaded spreadsheet ready by mid-June, Diamond book a few weeks later) may be in jeopardy, in which case I can either have the dates slip a few weeks or, alternately, post a “trial version” of the spreadsheet and then do the book. If you have a preference for which route to take, let me know–email waltcrawford@gmail.com

Meanwhile:

1,400 journals scanned for a total to date of 13,300.

• 5,373 with fees, 7,927 no fees (diamond)
• 1,463 new, 11,837 continuing
• 1,223,075 2025 articles; 1,127,518 2024 articles.
• Special cases include 290 bi (inactive); 163 xd (expired/defunct); 43 xj (removed from DOAJ since 1/1/26); 393 xm/xm2 (malware or certificate issues); 19 xn (not an OA journal, including login requirements); 922 xx/xx2 (unavailable or unworkable).
• So far, 1,514 need to be retested.

For more frequent updates, follow #goa26 on “the Fediverse” (Mastodon et al) or follow me on Mastodon.

A decent week.

1,400 journals scanned for a total to date of 11,900.

• 4,882 with fees, 7,018 no fees (diamond)
• 1,315 new, 10,585 continuing
• 1,135,941 2025 articles; 1,043,167 2024 articles.
• Special cases include 258 bi (inactive); 144 xd (expired/defunct); 31 xj (removed from DOAJ since 1/1/26); 346 xm/xm2 (malware or certificate issues); 15 xn (not an OA journal, including login requirements); 806 xx/xx2 (unavailable or unworkable).
• So far, 1,3401 need to be retested.

For more frequent updates, follow #goa26 on “the Fediverse” (Mastodon et al) or follow me on Mastodon.

A little special note at the halfway point of the initial journal scan–11,208 checked out of 22,416 total.

That’s more-or-less halfway in other ways, most of which can’t really be determined because the population of serious OA journals changes.

Just for fun, I compared last year’s universe up to the same journal–European Heart Journal Case Reports (Oxford University Press)–as always, with the database sorted by publisher, then by title. That wasn’t quite halfway through last year (55 titles short). But…

This year, so far, the 2024 article count is 996,656,and the 2025 count is 1,084,275 (so we’re past the million-article count this week). Last year, the 2024 article count through that journal was 957,296 of an eventual 1,441,995–or, including excluded titles, around 1,447,000. If the ratios continue, the overall total this year could be around 1.64 million 2025 articles and 1.507 2024 articles. That’s all conjecture.

In terms of remaining timing? I don’t believe I’m quite halfway through the initial scan, partly because real life will interfere more (I suspect), for example an annual event culminating in the Ides of April, an event that chews up time and energy. (There are other reasons…)  Last year, the halfway point was on February 26 and the first pass was finished on April 23. For this year? I’ll be happy enough if the first pass is done by the end of April and the second pass by mid-May, We shall see. I do believe we’ll see modest growth in the journal count–less than 10%–and the article count (also probably less than 10%). Could be worse…

A good week.

1,700 journals scanned for a total to date of 10,500.

• 4,380 with fees, 6,120 no fees (diamond)
• 1,140 new, 9,352 continuing
• 972,705 2025 articles; 908,591 2024 articles.
• Special cases include 217 bi (inactive); 120 xd (expired/defunct); 29 xj (removed from DOAJ since 1/1/26); 316 xm/xm2 (malware or certificate issues); 14 xn (not an OA journal, including login requirements); 752 xx/xx2 (unavailable or unworkable).
• So far, 1,231 need to be retested.

For more frequent updates, follow #goa26 on “the Fediverse” (Mastodon et al) or follow me on Mastodon.