Responding to the global demand on higher education institutions to produce quality research outputs, the University of Santo Tomas (UST), through the Office of the Secretary-General, has created the UST Journal Affairs Committee (UJAC). Through this initiative, an aggregate portal of all the University’s peer-reviewed and indexed research journals Is now available to the public. Titled “The UST Journals Online Portal,” it was officially launched by the Office of the Secretary-General and the UJAC on December 6, 2018, at the UST Paredes Building.
The UST Journal Affairs Committee is headed by the UST Secretary-General Rev. Fr. Jesús Miranda, Jr., O.P., Ph.D. It is composed of the respective chief editors of the academic journals published by the various units of the University.
Through this committee, UST aims to intensify its support for the maintenance of these journals by bringing them together in a single official online portal, providing editors with technical and financial
assistance, guiding editors in maintaining quality assurance and professionalizing the respective editorial boards, among others. Now that the various UST academic journals are under one common platform, it will be easier for researchers to access content and information about the journals, specifically the respective submission and publication policies of each publication.
Moreover, featuring various academic journals from different disciplines is an indication of the University’s commitment to knowledge production and dissemination, as well as the recognition of the academic efforts of the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and health sciences.
One of the goals of the UJAC is the eventual adoption of a University Open Access (OA) Policy, through which all academic journals identified with UST will be published in Open Access platforms, which means that all published articles will be made freely available to the public The “UST Journals Online Portal” can be accessed through http://journals.ust. edu.ph.
The journals included in the online portal are: Acta Manilana, published by the Research Center for the Natural Sciences and edited by Prof. Emeritus Fortunato Sevilla, Ph.D; Antoninus Journal, published by the UST Graduate School and edited by Prof. Rey Donne Papa, Ph.D.; Asian Journal of English Language Studies published by the Department of English and edited by Asst. Prof. Veronico Tarrayo, Ph.D.; Hasaan published by the Department of Filipino and edited by Prof. Imelda De Castro, Ph.D. and Assoc. Prof. Zendel Rosario Taruc, Ph.D.; Journal of Medicine University of Santo Tomas published by the Faculty of Medicine and edited by Prof. Raymond Rosales, M.D., Ph.D.; Journal of Social Health published by the Research Center for Social Sciences and Education and edited by Asst. Prof. Maria Carinnes Alejandria Gonzalez; Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy published by the Department of Philosophy and edited by Prof. Paolo Bolaños, Ph.D.; Philipiniana Sacra published by the Ecclesiastical Faculties and edited by Rev. Fr. Jesús Miranda, Jr., O.P., Ph.D.; Philippine Journal of Allied Health Sciences, published by the College of Rehabilitation Sciences and edited by Mr. Ivan Neil Gomez; Tomás, published by the Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies and edited by Assoc. Prof. Ralph Semino Galán; UNITAS, the 96-year-old international research journal published by the Department of Literature and edited by Prof. Maria Luisa Torres Reyes, Ph.D.
