Researchers can now search online for more than 46,000 articles published in open access scientific journals, thanks to the launch of the second phase of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

The new version of the directory, announced last week, allows users to search by article and not simply to browse journals. It now gives access to more than 1,100 open access journals, 270 of which are searchable by article.

Developed last year by the Lund University Libraries in Sweden, DOAJ originally contained information about 350 scientific and academic journals (see New move to boost profile of open access journals).

"The DOAJ provides a platform for open access journals to gain greater visibility and thereby increase their readership," says Melissa Hagemann, programme manager at the Open Society Institute, a New York-based grant-making foundation that helps fund the initiative. "Nowhere is this more important than to libraries in the developing world, where access to journals is limited due to the high cost of most titles."

The directory, which can be accessed at www.doaj.org, is also supported by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and the Royal Library of Sweden (BIBSAM).