Serbian Citation Index: The sustainability of a business model based on partnership between a non-profit web publisher and journal owners

Abstract

The paper presents an in-depth analysis of the innovative business model underlying the SerbianCitation Index (SCIndeks), as a local Open Access publishing platform in Serbia. It explains therole of the platform in the local publishing ecosystem and its international relevance in terms ofinteroperability, multilingualism, promotion of local research, development of good publishingpractice and evaluation indicators, demonstrating that the only way to ensure a sustainablefuture of local journals is devising publishing models adjusted to the local context and needs relying on extensive research and receptiveness for global trends. The paper focuses on theperiod after 2015, when the business model was changed from a publicly funded project to aplatform maintained in a partnership between a web publisher and journal owners, marked byextensive guidance and strict quality control. The results of the comparisons between the old andthe new model and between SCIndeks and similar platforms indicate that such a model may besustainable and even superior to the publicly funded model of journal publishing, at least in somesocio-political and academic environments.