Co-Designing Diamond Open Access Recommendations and Guidelines for Research Funders, Sponsors, and Donors

The discussion on open science and the future of scholarly communication is increasingly focused on community-driven models that are equitable by nature and design. Political support for and public sector engagement in such models have both grown in recent years. One such model is 'Diamond' Open Access, wherein research outputs are openly available without charging fees to either authors or readers.

Science Europe is organising a co-design process to develop diamond open access recommendations and guidelines for research Funders, Sponsors, and Donors (FSDs). Sector initiatives are gathering momentum, including the ‘Action Plan for Diamond Open Access’ (Mar 2022), and calls grow louder from governments to develop not-for-profit scholarly publishing models in Europe. Against this background, this co-design process is a timely opportunity for FSD experts to come together and discuss how they can provide effective financial support for diamond open access.

This co-design process is being organised in the context of the Horizon Europe project ‘Developing Institutional Open Access Publishing Models to Advance Scholarly Communication’ (DIAMAS). Having identified the fragmentation of the diamond open access ecosystem, this project aims to facilitate cohesion and alignment by formulating community-led recommendations and guidelines for institutional leaders, FSDs, and policy makers in Europe.

Co-Design Workshop

16 APRIL 2024, 14.00–17.00 CET

Science Europe organised this workshop to bring together research funders, sponsors, and donors and discuss how they can provide effective financial and in-kind support for diamond open access. This event provided an in-depth discussion on the reasons for FSDs to support diamond open access (why?), the roles they can play (how?), and the actions they can take (what?).

The workshop was open to European research funders, sponsors, and donors that provide financial or in-kind support to diamond open access journals, repositories, or platforms. Science Europe represents 40 public research funding and performing organisations in 29 countries, but this event was also open to non-Science Europe members.

Background material

• The European landscape of institutional publishing - A synopsis of results from the DIAMAS survey (Jan 2024)
• Global Summit Conclusions and Way Forward (Nov 2023)
• Towards an enhanced and aligned institutional publishing landscape in the ERA (Aug 2023)
• Principles of Diamond Open Access Publishing: a draft proposal (May 2023)
• Action Plan for Diamond Open Access (Mar 2022)
• The OA Diamond Journals Study (Mar 2021)

Timeline

1. Aug 2023–Feb 2025 Co-design Diamond OA Recommendations and guidelines for research funders, sponsors, and donors
2. 4 Dec 2023 Inception meeting
3. 16 Apr 2024 Co-design workshop
4. Late 2024 High-level FSD leadership engagement event
5. Feb 2025 Publication of co-designed diamond open access recommendations and guidelines for research FSDs