The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts

What The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts does

The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts (MJLA) is a peer-reviewed academic journal operated as a non-commercial publication by Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Founded in 2009, it publishes selected bachelor-level research produced by students of University College Maastricht (UCM), a multidisciplinary liberal arts program. The journal's content pool is deliberately narrow: articles represent the best submissions from UCM's undergraduate research output, with editorial selection overseen by a board of academic faculty and university library staff affiliated with Maastricht University (including the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences). Operations are run by approximately five staff and supervised through named program contacts including Fabienne Crombach (Senior Coordinator Excellence Education) and Peter Verberne (Maastricht University Library).

The journal's technical infrastructure is built on Open Journal Systems (OJS) version 3.5.0.4, an open-source journal management and publishing platform developed by the Public Knowledge Project under the GNU General Public License. The platform provides peer-review workflow management, article-level PDF distribution, current-issue and archive browsing, and editorial masthead publishing. No proprietary technology, APIs, or AI features are layered on top of the base OJS installation. Distribution is exclusively digital and open access, with articles freely downloadable as PDFs through the openjournals.maastrichtuniversity.nl domain.

The business model is non-commercial and institutionally funded. MJLA generates no revenue, charges no publication fees or subscription fees, and operates without external investors as part of Maastricht University's Open Journals platform. Its purpose is to provide undergraduate researchers with authentic peer-reviewed publishing experience and to reward excellence in bachelor research rather than to generate financial returns. The journal exists alongside other university-hosted student journals on the same platform, including MaRBLe, MSJPN, and the Maastricht University Journal of Sustainability Studies.

Name

The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts

Legal name

The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts

Website

https://openjournals.maastrichtuniversity.nl

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts is a peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal published by Maastricht University that exclusively publishes selected bachelor-level research from University College Maastricht students, running on Open Journal Systems open-source software with no commercial revenue model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Publishing

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAGAFAI

Interdisciplinary & Multidisciplinary Scholarly Publishing

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Academic & Scholarly Publishing (Journals, Monographs)

SECONDARYMPAJABAC

Academic & Scholarly Journals Publishing (Peer-Reviewed)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/Educational & Academic Publishing (Textbooks, Scholarly, STM)

Keywords

• Academic journal publishing
• Scholarly peer review
• Open access journals
• Liberal arts research
• Undergraduate research publication

Headquarters

HQ city

Maastricht

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts (MJLA) is a peer-reviewed open-access academic journal that publishes original bachelor-level research papers produced by students at University College Maastricht. It serves the academic community by providing a curated, double-blind peer-reviewed venue for undergraduate liberal arts scholarship spanning the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, with no publication fees for authors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts (MJLA) A peer-reviewed open-access academic journal publishing original bachelor-level research from University College Maastricht students across the liberal arts disciplines (humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences). It is offered free to readers and authors and operates on the Open Journal Systems platform.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Public Knowledge Project (PKP)coreTechnology or IntegrationThe Open Journals platform uses Open Journal Systems (OJS) software developed, supported, and freely distributed by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) under the GNU General Public License. PKP provides the underlying technology infrastructure for journal management and publishing.

Recent moves3 records

Others

• Public Knowledge Project (PKP): Technology partner that develops and distributes the Open Journal Systems software used by MJLA. Not a competitor but a critical enabling infrastructure provider without which the journal could not operate at its current cost structure.
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): Global indexing infrastructure for open access scholarly journals. MJLA could pursue DOAJ listing to increase discoverability; DOAJ represents an enabling ecosystem participant rather than a peer.

Direct peers

• Maastricht Student Journal of Psychology and Neuroscience (MSJPN): Another sibling student-led peer-reviewed journal on the same OJS platform, focused on psychology and neuroscience. Targets the same Maastricht undergraduate researcher pool with a similar author-reviewer experience model.
• MaRBLe (Maastricht Research Based Learning for Excellence): Sister journal on the same Maastricht University Open Journals platform, also publishing undergraduate research from Maastricht students. Shares editorial board members and infrastructure with MJLA; functions as the closest direct peer within the same institutional portfolio.
• Columbia Undergraduate Research Journal: Columbia University-hosted peer-reviewed journal publishing outstanding undergraduate work across disciplines. Mirrors MJLA's model of rewarding top undergraduate research with peer review and publication, though at a higher-prestige US institution.
• University College London Undergraduate Research Journal: UCL-affiliated publication showcasing top undergraduate research. Similar liberal arts university model targeting multidisciplinary work, with open access distribution akin to MJLA.
• MIT Undergraduate Research Journal: Student-run journal at MIT publishing peer-reviewed undergraduate research across STEM and humanities. Comparable in mission (rewarding top undergraduate research) though operating in a different national academic culture.

Broad incumbents

• Brill Open Humanities: Established Dutch academic publisher with a broad humanities and social sciences portfolio including open access journals. Operates in the same liberal arts scholarly space but at commercial scale with international reach; relevant as a potential partnership or acquisition pathway.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-maastricht-journal-of-liberal-arts

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts