Bhatter College Open Access Initiative (BCOAI)
The Context
In 2007 we were inspired by advice of the visiting Hon’ble NAAC Team Members for establishing contact with the outside world through the internet and the web. As a college situated in a remote corner of West Bengal, the college seriously suffered from lack of connections with other institutions and scholars. There was also a need of starting a scholarly journal which would conform to the international standards and parameters and act as a model for teachers and scholars. With steady computerization and high-speed connection we understood that it would be possible to undertake multidisciplinary project involving all the departments of the college. With some experiments, we created a sub-domain in the main college website and installed necessary software and plugins and successfully launched the first issue of the journal on Earth, Environment and Eco-system with the contributions of scholars from various parts of the world.
BCOAI was conceived in 2010 with the aim of creating awareness about the value of Open Access to scholarly materials for a developing country like India. In 2011 it started an e-journal Bhatter College Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies as a platform of scholarly communication for the teachers and researchers as an experiment so that if successful departmental journals can be started at low cost.
Principles
- The Initiative draws its inspiration from Budapest Open Access Initiative and follows the basic principles enumerated there through the journal.
- It supports projects which allows universal access to all scholarly contents and which does not charge authors for publishing their contents.
- In time of crisis of various indigenous languages, it seeks to further the cause of the indigenous language Bengali as a standard medium of scholarly communication by publishing contents in Bengali on the web.
- It experiments with new technology and tools for scholarly publication and extend help whenever an institution or a person seeks help regarding technology.
- The initiative encourages staff of the college to get involved in OA activities.
Bhatter College Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies
The Bhatter College Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies translates the concepts of the BCOI into a concrete practice. The journal is being published from 2016 on Continuous Publication Model following international standards.
Scope
Our vision is to publish relevant and valid researches in various disciplines in a single platform in order to utilize the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary aspects of all the disciplines.
Aims and Objectives
- To promote research and publication among the global scholarly communities;
- To involve researchers in the emerging interdisciplinary fields apart from promoting the traditional fields;
- To raise standards of publication following international norms;
- To establish scholarly relationship with the scholarly communities;
- To experiment with the online platform as a multidisciplinary collaborative project.
Broad Disciplines:
- Humanities: Sanskrit, Bengali, English, Music
- Social Sciences: History, Archaeology, Philosophy, Psychology, Political Science, Public Administration, Education, Sociology, Sports Studies (Physical Education)
- Management and Commerce: Commerce, Accountancy, Rural Management
- Pure Sciences: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science
- Research Methodology
- Vocational and technical Education
Content Types
We consider the following content types for publication:
- Critical papers: Full-fledged critical articles (3000-5000 words).
- Research findings: Reports from researches already under process may be sent as interim report (1000-2000 words).
- Surveys: Findings from survey as critical report may be submitted (2000-3000 words).
- Short communications: Scholarly findings or new insights into some area may be sent (1000-1500 words).
- Conference/seminar papers: Conference/seminar papers (minimum 2000 words) may be submitted provided that the permission is taken from the organizers
- Review of books not older than 2 years (500+ words)
Languages
English, Bengali, Sanskrit
Contact
Please contact Chief Editor at principal@bhattercollege.ac.in
Success
The Initiative started the e-journal as experiment with new technology and new emerging educational trends in India. In 2010 BCOAI was perhaps the first OA initiative from a college in India and in 2011 Bhatter College Journal was the first e-journal to be published by any university or college as far as we know. But right after its launch it was warmly received by the scholarly communities of various parts of the world. The Initiative has also successfully created an online magazine The Golden Line from the Department of English, which publishes writings from teachers and students from colleges and universities from various parts of the world.