Below is a list of English language open access journals that publish scholarship related to East and Southeast Asia. The peer-reviewed journals listed here make their articles available at no cost at the point of access (free to readers) and do not charge article processing charges for works that are submitted to the journal (free to authors). When a Creative Commons licence for the publication is listed, the specific license is indicated after the link.
Korea
Korea Journal CC-BY-NC-ND
The Review of Korean Studies CC-BY-NC-ND
International Journal of Korean History CC-BY-NC
Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies
Journal offers subscription option for print version and has no mention of open access on the journal home page (May, 2021), but offers full open access to content.
China
British Journal of Chinese Studies CC-BY
Journal of Chinese Sociology
Available at Springer but open access and no article-processing charges (May, 2021).
Journal of Current Chinese Affairs
Available at Sage Journals but open access and no article-processing charges (May, 2021).
The Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies CC-BY-NC
Japan
Cipango: French Journal of Japanese Studies. English Selection
Translated and adapted articles from French language counterpart journal.
electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies CC-BY-NC
Japan Review : Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies
MINIKOMI: Austrian Journal of Japanese Studies
Submissions are accepted in English, German, and Japanese.
New Voices in Japanese Studies
Guest editors of each volume must be affiliated with a university in Australia or New Zealand.
AATJ Journal: Japanese Language and Literature
East and Southeast Asia
Archipel: Études interdisciplinaires sur le monde insulindien
Includes articles in French and English.
Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia
Austrian Journal of South East Asian Studies CC-BY-NC-ND
The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies
East Asia Forum
Shorter analysis and overview articles peer reviewed and published daily.
Education About Asia
Has a paid print subscription but archives are open and online.
Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines
Includes articles in French and English.
Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident
Includes articles in French and English.
Humanities Diliman: A Philippine Journal of Humanities
IKAT: The Indonesian Journal of Southeast Asian Studies CC-BY-SA
International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Culture
No mention of open access on the journal home page (May, 2021), but full archive appears to be downloadable and no subscription information.
International Journal of Indonesian Studies
International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies CC-BY
JATI – Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
The Irish Journal of Asian Studies
Journal of ASEAN Studies CC-BY-NC
Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University
Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture CC-BY-NC
Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia CC-BY-ND
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs
Available at Sage Journals but open access and no article-processing charges (May, 2021).
Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society
Kervan. International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies CC-BY
Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies CC BY-ND 4.0
Moussons: Recherche en sciences humaines sur l’Asie du Sud-Est
Publishes articles in French and English.
Saksaha: A Journal of Manchu Studies CC-BY
Studia Orientalia Electronica CC-BY
Studia Orientalia Slovaca
Articles primarily in English, with some in Slovak or Czech.
Taiwan Journal of Anthropology
Articles primarily in Chinese, but some in English.
Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies CC-BY
Full Access but Policy Unclear
Asia Major
Journal has some information on subscription and has no mention of open access on the journal home page (May, 2021) but full archive appears to be downloadable.
Asian Women
Journal has information on subscription and has no mention of open access on the journal home page (May, 2021) but full archive appears to be downloadable.
Bulletin of the IHP
Journal has some information on subscription and has no mention of open access on the journal home page (May, 2021) but full archive appears to be downloadable.
Journal for Legal History Studies
Journal has some information on subscription and has no mention of open access on the journal home page (May, 2021) but full archive appears to be downloadable.
Journal of the Siam Society
Journal has some information on subscription and has no mention of open access on the journal home page (May, 2021) but full archive appears to be downloadable.
Disquisitions on the Past & Present
Journal has some information on subscription and has no mention of open access on the journal home page (May, 2021) but full archive appears to be downloadable.
Southeast Asian Social Science Review
All articles appear to be downloadable via this link. Manuscript submission PDF doesn’t mention open access (Oct, 2022). Through another website it offers digital issues for purchase.
Embargoed Journals
Some journals have an embargo policy under which recent articles are closed, while older articles become automatically open access at the point of access, without the payment of article processing charges.
Asian Medicine 5 year embargo
New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies 2 year embargo
Not Currently Active and Other
Critical Asian Studies (1968-2000)
This journal is still active but no longer open access. The archived version of its older issues are still accessible both at the archive.org link above and via the current publisher.
Cross Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review (2011-2020)
Early Modern Japan (1991-2014)
Études chinoises (1983-2011)
Includes articles in French and English.
Korean Histories (2009-2013)
Finding Other Journals
Many of these journals are listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals, which also offers a search engine for articles published open access in its indexed journals by title, author keyword, and abstract. In addition to the journals listed above, there are many other ‘green’ open access journals that do not offer free access to scholarship themselves, but permit authors to submit a copy of some version of the submitted article to a repository. Not all authors archive their work in repositories and the version they are permitted to save may not show the correct page numbers or reflect the final edits of an article. There are also many journals that allow authors to pay for the privilege of making an article ‘gold’ open access, either as a model for the entire journal, or on an article or special issue basis. The Sherpa Romeo database is a good place to explore these options for specific journals.
Contact
If you find broken links or errors in the information provided here, or want to suggest other journals related to East and Southeast Asia to have added here, please get in touch with Konrad M. Lawson (kmlawson@froginawell.net or on twitter @kmlawson).