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What is Diamond open access?

Abstract

This article discusses Diamond open access (OA) for journals. In this context, the term ‘Diamond OA’ refers to an equitable model of scholarly publication that charges no fees to authors or readers and in which the content-related elements of publication are owned and controlled by the scholarly communities.

Main Text

The term ‘Diamond OA’ refers to an equitable model of scholarly publication that charges no fees to authors or readers and in which the content-related elements of publication are owned and controlled by the scholarly communities.

But how does this definition translate into practical terms for a publisher or a publishing service provider? The following six operational criteria have to be jointly met for a journal to be recognized as a Diamond OA journal that can be included in the Diamond Discovery Hub currently being set up by the CRAFT-OA (Creating a Robust Accessible Federated Technology for Open Access) project, and that will be included in the Diamond Capacity Hub:

  1. Persistent identification

    The journal should have a valid and confirmed ISSN (n.d.)
     
  2. Scholarly journal

    The journal should be a scholarly journal that selects papers via an explicitly described evaluation process before and/or after publication,  in line with accepted practices in the relevant discipline (Diamas Consortium, 2024)
     
  3. Open Access with open licences:

    All outputs of the journal should be Open Access and carry an open licence that is included in the article-level metadata
     
  4. No fees:

    Publication in the journal is not contingent on the payment of fees of any kind (e.g. article processing charges or membership dues). The journal should state this as such on its webpage. Voluntary author contributions and donations are allowed, if this is not a condition for publication.
     
  5. Open to all authors

    Authorship in the journal should not be limited to any type of affiliation. Any author can submit an article that is in line with the aims and scope of the journal
     
  6. Community-owned:

    The journal title must be owned by public or not-for-profit organisations (or parts thereof) whose mission includes performing or promoting research and scholarship. These include but are not limited to research performing organisations (RPOs), research funding organisations (RFOs), organisations connected to RPOs (university libraries, university presses, faculties, and departments), research institutes, and scholarly societies.  The journal should explain its ownership status on its webpage

    Important note: These criteria are not meant to theoretically or ideologically define or constrain Diamond OA as a scholarly publishing model. The criteria are merely meant as operational, concretely identifiable properties that make it possible to determine which journals meet a set of boundary conditions for Diamond OA journals that can be included in the Diamond Discovery Hub.

References

 

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Licensing

This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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