Research organisations and policymakers should explore and identify their main reasons and motivations to support Diamond OA, as well as the obstacles encountered in this pursuit. The three main reasons and motivations to support Diamond OA are explained in this report (cf. section 3 infra), and can serve as a starting point together with the talking points that were developed as part of the DIAMAS project. Exploring ways to broaden and combine these reasons and motivations as part of an organisational strategy, will ensure more effective support (cf. ANR’s model in box 1 infra). Institutional leaders, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers should also take the initiative to raise awareness among researchers and researcher communities on the benefits offered by the Diamond OA publishing model, and the sustainable alternative it presents to traditional subscription-based and pay-to-publish OA models.

Research organisations and policymakers should establish and promote strategies to recognise and reward the contributions of editors, reviewers, and authors in Diamond OA publishing. These strategies should avoid perpetuating the current system's excessive emphasis on publication metrics (e.g. Journal Impact Factor, h-index), and instead align with the principles outlined in the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) Commitments, and contribute to positive research cultures.

Research organisations and policymakers should establish a strong evidence base through monitoring the landscape and evidence-gathering activities, which will be essential for advancing Diamond OA as the leading scholarly communication model for publicly funded research. Importantly, the gathered data should be openly accessible and internationally comparable, adhering to shared methodologies and principles.

Research organisations and policymakers should contribute to the growing Diamond OA community by endorsing the Action Plan for Diamond Open Access (published in March 2022). Regular meetings are organised to keep this community informed of the latest initiatives and developments, give them a platform to engage in mutual learning and knowledge exchange, and discuss opportunities for collective action. These discussions emphasise the importance of strengthening the complementarity between the various initiatives that are emerging in the Diamond OA landscape.

Research organisations and policymakers should develop, implement, and expand support for local, national, and community Diamond Capacity Centres. A wide range of new and innovative practices and services are emerging in this regard, both those that serve specific national and disciplinary communities, and those that aim to cut across those boundaries to provide resources and services to a wider community that wishes to adopt and promote innovative publishing practices.

Research organisations and policymakers should support Diamond OA communities at the national and European levels by engaging in the European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH) that was launched in January 2025. Alongside capacity hubs in other world regions, the EDCH federates and aligns national, disciplinary, and institutional capacity centres in Europe that deliver services and guarantee quality standards of Diamond OA journals in various languages and for a variety of disciplines.

Through the EDCH, research organisations and policymakers should also engage in the forthcoming Global Diamond OA Framework. This infrastructure will aim at providing resources and services to Diamond OA communities worldwide to strengthen their role in scholarly communication. It will be a global infrastructure serving communities worldwide, operating as a distributed system that aligns diverse communities to achieve shared goals.

This is a shared recommendation for institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers

Establish grants and offer in-kind and other support specifically designed to support Diamond OA outputs, platforms, and repositories that publish in the local language or multiple languages, ensuring that non-English research is accessible and valued, as well as engaging multicultural scholarly communities. In addition, seek to encourage serving broad research communities, including and specifically addressing under-represented and marginalised groups and publishers that serve local or multiple languages. This approach can be implemented through policy and financial support, e.g. through structural funding and by starting up new efforts through grants. Valuing linguistic, societal and cultural diversity in scholarly publishing and thereby preserving epistemic cultures can help reduce bias in knowledge production and increase the impact of research.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions

Organise initiatives that promote the benefits of Diamond OA in institutions, including targeted training sessions, workshops and information events for researchers based on the DIAMAS Toolsuite, as well as reports on contractual, in-kind, and voluntary work in Diamond OA. Such activities should also improve the researchers’ understanding of the different OA publication models (Gold, Green, Diamond, etc), including their costs, benefits and potential risks as outlined in UNESCO’s outlook report. In implementing this recommendation, institutional leaders should collaborate closely with their institutional publishers and relevant institutional departments. Resources such as the EUA’s new university Open Access checklist can also be instrumental in offering a detailed overview of the current opportunities and challenges within the scholarly communication landscape.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions

Encourage institutional publishers to use the DOAS self-assessment tool developed by the DIAMAS project, which helps institutional publishers evaluate their alignment with high-quality Diamond OA standards.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions

Inform researchers and academics about the opportunity to publish their research results in Diamond OA outlets. To facilitate this, institutional leaders should ensure that clear guidelines are available in the institution. Support and training should also be offered to find and publish in Diamond OA outlets. In particular, they should be instructed on how to select Diamond OA publishers that adhere to rigorous quality standards, helping them ensure the credibility and impact of their research publications.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for policymakers

Encourage the development of Open Access or publication policies to highlight the importance of a wide range of publishing venues, including Diamond OA, in publicly funded research. Collaborate with national policymakers (e.g. via CoNOSC) to build a consensus around the importance of Diamond OA and help develop policies that reflect this priority. Policies should be coupled with clear guidelines, incentives, and recognition to ensure their implementation. OA policies and advocacy for them should be based on a good understanding of the Diamond OA publishing sector and researcher’s information practices.

This is a shared recommendation for institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers

Provide multi-year funding mechanisms to ensure the long-term financial stability and sustainability of Diamond OA initiatives, reducing reliance on project-based funding that is limited in time. Whether it is structural funding from institutions to support institutional publishers within their organisations, or government investments in the broader ecosystem, the goal is to provide sufficient and predictable funding streams to support the development of institutional, national, and international initiatives and infrastructures. Conversely, research organisations and governments should also allow for short-term flexibility through innovation grants and pilot programmes to develop, test, and refine innovative approaches to Diamond OA publishing, with the potential for wider adoption.

This is a shared recommendation for institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers

Encourage collaboration between institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and other actors to pool resources and support Diamond OA initiatives sustainably. These collaborations can develop bilaterally or multilaterally, and can also benefit from the cooperation developing at European and global level through the EDCH and Global Diamond OA Framework (cf. section 2 supra).

This recommendation is primarily relevant for policymakers

Encourage institutions to repurpose savings from publishing agreements such as institutional, regional or national publishing deals, read and publishing deals, and subscriptions, or from (temporarily) cancelling such agreements. These savings can be used to strengthen the national and international Diamond publishing ecosystem and community-owned, shared infrastructure for equitable and trustworthy scholarly communication. For a good and practical example of this approach, see the ‘Lorraine model’.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions

Reflect on the opportunity of redirecting institutional funding from for-profit publishing to Diamond OA activities, especially now that agreements with for-profit publishers are becoming increasingly unsustainable for institutions. Implementing a budget reallocation will be instrumental in supporting the long-term sustainability of institutional publishers. However, such a shift should be implemented through a carefully evaluated step-by-step approach. In particular, fostering a cultural shift will be crucial to ensure that the reallocation of the money effectively supports Diamond OA publishing. Institutional leaders should see the support of national funders and policymakers, especially in those countries where traditional publishing models continue to be prioritised in the assessment of research and academic careers.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for policymakers

Advocate for change in funding regulations to allow for greater flexibility in supporting digital and open access initiatives. Review policies to ensure that funding mechanisms are aligned with the needs of the digital age, enabling support for innovative models like Diamond OA and funding international infrastructure not based in the research funder’s country. Promote best (digital) practices for Diamond OA.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions and policymakers

Policymakers should invest in the development and widespread adoption of open, inclusive, and community-owned research information systems that serve many, including for example the EDCH, Public Knowledge Project (PKP), and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Institutions also have a role to play in ensuring that academics and researchers are aware of such community-owned databases. These include institutional Current Research Information Systems (CRIS) and repositories, as well as global publication and citation databases like OpenAlex, OpenCitations and OpenAIRE. Such databases ensure the visibility of globally and locally relevant research, regardless of language and many adhere to the principles of the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information and the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI).

This is a shared recommendation for institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers

Require Diamond OA journals, publishing platforms, and repositories to provide detailed and transparent financial reports to ensure accountability and responsible use of funds, in alignment with relevant procedures at different levels.

This is a shared recommendation for institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers

Invest in the development and implementation of cost-effective publishing technologies and practices that reduce operational costs while maintaining quality.

This is a shared recommendation for institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers

Advocate for regional, national, and international policies that encourage the adoption of Diamond OA as the leading scholarly communication model for publicly funded research. Institutions and organisations should be encouraged – e.g. through national publishing strategies – to strengthen a more equitable publishing system, including Diamond OA. These stakeholders can help establish a national organisation aimed at coordinating Diamond OA efforts, to collaborate on various aspects of Diamond OA publishing. These collaborations could include developing and utilising shared resources, making joint funding applications, carrying out coordinated efforts to develop and maintain OA infrastructure through in-kind contributions or direct funding, and joint implementation.

This is a shared recommendation for institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers

Participate in and support international initiatives, consortia, and projects that promote Diamond OA on a European and global scale and establish a shared monitoring and evidence base for its further development. Examples include: first, at European level, the EDCH (cf. section 2 supra), which aims to strengthen the Diamond OA community in Europe by supporting European institutional, national, and disciplinary capacity centres and Diamond publishers and service providers in their mission of Diamond OA scholarly publishing; and second, at the global level, the Global Diamond OA Framework (cf. section 2 supra) being developed by UNESCO. To enhance understanding the landscape of Diamond OA, it is highly advised to facilitate and collaborate in international, national, and regional projects that work on joint advocacy, explore the scope of the Diamond OA publishing landscape, and collaborate on joint services.

This is a shared recommendation for institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers

Organise, support, and attend conferences, workshops, and networking events focused on Diamond OA to facilitate the exchange of good practices and innovative ideas, and build networks between actors at regional, national, and international level. Examples include: first, the community webinars organised to foster information exchange between the endorsers of the Action Plan for Diamond OA; and second, the Global Summits on Diamond OA that so far took place in Toluca, Mexico in October 2023 and Cape Town, South Africa in December 2024, and have been instrumental in bringing together global partners and align their positions on key elements of Diamond OA.

This is a shared recommendation for institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers

Build capacities for Diamond OA through strategic funding focused on enhancing shared services and open research infrastructure while leveraging economies of scale. Collaborative funding strategies on the international, national and regional level are needed to reduce fragmentation and enhance the capacities of the Diamond OA community. This can be achieved by many actors (e.g., charities, national research funders or agencies, information research providers and institutions) collaborating for bigger causes that aim to support international services and infrastructures that serve many. Funding is necessary to develop and support regional capacity hubs such as the EDCH as well as local and national capacity centres or cross-country regions (e.g., the Nordic countries), to help scale up Diamond OA. Enable the EDCH to collaborate with other regional hubs via the Global Diamond OA Framework. Support national capacity centres in their efforts to innovate and implement new practices that serve local and national communities and foster diversity through community-led initiatives. Recognise scholarly communication platforms and services as research infrastructures and include them in national and international research infrastructure roadmaps.

This is a shared recommendation for institutions, funders, sponsors, donors, and policymakers

Support community-led initiatives and networks that promote Diamond OA, fostering a sense of ownership and engagement among researchers across all disciplines and communities, with a view to collectively solve common challenges, i.e. develop Diamond OA capacity, drive change in the research community, and more.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for funders, sponsors, donors

Create funding opportunities and other resources specifically for grassroots Diamond OA initiatives proposed by researchers and scholarly communities, encouraging innovation and responsiveness to the specific needs of local communities. Diamond Capacity Centres (cf. section 2 supra) can play an important role in this regard, also providing technical assistance to help new and existing Diamond OA outlets to improve their operations and sustainability.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions

Provide institutional publishers with professional staff needed to ensure the smooth operation of institutional publishing activities, while safeguarding their editorial and scientific independence. Providing such support is not only crucial to curate Diamond OA outputs, but also to improve their recognition across the scientific community and, therefore, their value for the institution itself. While support should come from the institutional level, leaders can also encourage institutional publishers to engage with national-level infrastructures and services for Diamond OA publishing, which can provide additional support and resources to perform publishing activities.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions

Explore alternative ways to recognise and reward the editorial and peer-review work of researchers for Diamond OA outputs, including those published by other institutions such as learned societies, while also integrating contributions to Diamond OA into academic and research evaluation processes at institutional, and national level. Non-monetary compensations, such as allocating dedicated time for Diamond OA activities, can play an important role in supporting and acknowledging the voluntary editorial work put into institutional publishing. Providing researchers and academics with the time needed to curate their Diamond OA activities will also be important to ensure that their publications are in line with high-quality standards and practices.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions

Develop an inventory that includes information such as a list of Diamond OA outputs published by the institutional publishers, details on the number of issues or articles published annually and Information about editorial boards and peer review practices. The aim of the inventory is to provide institutional leaders with a clearer understanding of the needs, challenges and opportunities associated with the institutional publishers operating within their organisation. Building this awareness will allow institutional leaders and institutional publishers to collaborate more effectively. This will also create pathways to maximise the impact and reach of the institution’s Diamond OA activities, promoting them both within and outside the institution. Institutional leaders can refer to the Diamond OA publisher typologies compiled in the DIAMAS Synergy Report.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions

Collaborate with institutional publishers and editors to develop a clear strategy on how to ensure the visibility and findability of the Diamond OA outputs published by the institution. This will be instrumental in attracting contributions from different institutional, disciplinary and national contexts. Institutional leaders should also ensure that their institutional publishers are part of the EDCH Registry and Forum, which will provide opportunities for the exchange of experiences, good practices, and resources on several Diamond OA publishing-related topics.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions

Support institutional publishers in looking for opportunities to collaborate with other institutions and their publishers to pool resources, share costs, and exchange good practices. Promoting the creation of inter-institutional collaboration can help different institutional publishers address common challenges, such as limited funding and resources, while also complementing the support provided by individual institutions. However, such an approach should also be supported by the creation of targeted measures at national level, which can include the development of a national strategy to strengthen Diamond OA or the establishment of a national organisation aimed at coordinating Diamond OA efforts.

This recommendation is primarily relevant for institutions

Ensure that Diamond OA publishing is regulated by institutional policies that address open science practice. Such policies should include provisions related to publishing practices, financial support, quality assurance and peer review, legal and copyright issues, and training and awareness. This will be instrumental in supporting a more strategic approach to strengthening the institutional publisher operating within the institution, as well as promoting Diamond OA initiatives among researchers and academics working in the institution.