Diamond open access journals charge no fees to either authors or readers
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Multiple reliable sources and academic literature define diamond open access journals as publishing models that do not charge any fees to either authors or readers.
In the current scientific and political discourse surrounding the transformation of the scientific publication system, significant attention is focused on Diamond Open Access (OA). Diamond OA is characterized by no charges for readers or authors and relies on monetary allowances and voluntary work. This article explores the potential and challenges of Diamond OA journals, using Germany as a case study. Two key questions are addressed: first, the current role of such journals in the scientific publication system is determined through bibliometric analysis across various disciplines. Second, an investigation is conducted to assess the sustainability of Diamond OA journals and identify associated structural problems or potential breaking points. This investigation includes an in-depth expert interview study involving 20 editors of Diamond OA journals. The empirical results are presented using a landscape map that considers two dimensions: 'monetized and gift-based completion of tasks' and 'journal team size.' The bibliometric analysis reveals a substantial number of Diamond OA journals in the social sciences and humanities, but limited adoption in other fields. The model proves effective for small to mid-sized journals, but not for larger ones. Additionally, it was found that 23 Diamond OA journals have recently discontinued their operations. The expert interviews demonstrate the diversity within the landscape and the usefulness of the two dimensions in understanding key differences. Journals in two of the four quadrants of the map exemplify sustainable conditions, while the other two quadrants raise concerns about long-term stability. These concerns include limited funding leading to a lack of division of labor and an excessive burden on highly committed members. Gift-like contributions, while appealing, also present challenges as potential donors not only decide whether to contribute but also how to contribute, potentially creating friction between the gift and the journal's requirements. Furthermore, journals in the lower right quadrant often rely on third-party funding, necessitating a transformation once the funding expires. Common pathways for sustaining operations include lobbying for funding at the journal's home institution or increasing reliance on gift-based completion of tasks. These findings underscore the need for the development of more sustainable funding models to ensure the success of Diamond OA journals.
As Article Processing Charges (APC) has been a growing concern in academia and policy making, the need for a model where both authors and readers do not pay – the so-called Diamond, or non-APC model – is regularly called for. However, this call is often combined with questions about its sustainability, particularly in financial terms. To answer this concern, this article explores the practical conditions to implement a direct funding mechanism to Diamond open access journals, that is recurrent money provided by funders to support the publication process. Based on a questionnaire survey sent to more than 1,000 Diamond OA journals, it investigates their financial needs, as well as their capacity to interact with research funding organizations (RFOs). The results are structured around four issues regarding the implementation of a direct funding model. First, most Diamond OA journals already make use of money rather than exclusively relying on support and volunteering. Second, those needs would be fulfilled in the eventuality of a regular income from research funders. Third, under this hypothesis, a vast majority of Diamond OA journals can receive and spend money. Finally, most of these journals could develop funding acknowledgments for each article with the promise of regular income through a direct funding mechanism. The conclusion addresses the challenges that such a recurrent financial stream would spur.
Articles in the 5th volume included topics in math, statistics, biology, chemistry, and integrated STEM education research, took place in both formal and informal education settings, and investigated primary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate level education. Authors included residents of six countries on three continents. As always, these articles are free to all readers, with no subscription fees or paywall, carrying no charge to institutions or libraries, with no article processing charge to authors. Thus, JRSMTE is a Diamond open access journal. Diamond, or Platinum, open access journals are not-for-profit/non-commercial organizations, which make all their materials immediately available online at no charge to readers or authors (Fuchs and Sandoval, 2013.)
This study analyzes the impact of different Open Access (OA) publication models in engineering, comparing journals that charge Article Processing Charges (APCs) with those operating under the Diamond OA model. A total of 757 engineering OA journals, comprising 504 APC-based and 253 Diamond OA journals, were examined using bibliometric data from 2020 to 2023. The analysis focused on four key metrics: CiteScore, total citations, number of published articles, and the percentage of cited articles. The results indicate that APC-based journals dominate the upper quartiles (Q1 and Q2) regarding absolute citation counts, primarily driven by high-volume mega-journals such as IEEE Access. However, Diamond OA journals exhibit a higher proportion of cited articles (88.8% compared to 83.4% in APC-based journals) within the top 10% category. Despite their benefits in providing cost-free dissemination, Diamond OA journals account for only 8.4% of the 3012 active engineering journals indexed in Scopus, highlighting sustainability and visibility challenges. The findings suggest that, while APC-based journals achieve higher absolute citation counts, editorial reputation and visibility strategies significantly influence citation performance. This study contributes to the ongoing discussion on the financial sustainability and equity of OA publishing in engineering.
This article discusses the findings of a survey to determine the Indian scholarly community’s preferences in open access (OA) publishing. Three hundred responses were obtained from five top-ranked Indian life science research institutions. All respondents opined that their research work seeks to reach maximum readership, and 88.7% indicated OA articles can be circulated without restrictions. A vast majority (90.67%) felt that OA journals reach readers, and there was no significant variation among institutions on aspects of OA publishing except for reaching scholars (chi-square=11.010, p=.026). The majority of respondents who prioritized high impact in their choice of publication significantly also favored brand value. The least significance was found in preference for diamond OA, or OA journals that do not charge author fees (chi-square=14.596, p=.006). Those who didn’t intend to pay an article processing charge (APC) were statistically different among institutions. A diverse opinion was observed among the institutions regarding unrestricted access to the publications for end-users (chi-square=11.722, p=.000) and dislike of publishing in paid OA journals (chi-square=12.116, p=.017). Authors’ reasons for publishing in OA journals and attracting more citations as encouragement to publish in OA journals were similar among the institutions. A statistically significant difference was observed among authors who quoted freedom of and free access to scholarship as reasons for publica
scientific journal publishing.[citation needed] No-fee open access journals, also known as "platinum" or "diamond" do not charge either readers or authors. These
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre open access, barriers to copying or reuse are also reduced or removed by applying an open license for copyright, which regulates post-publ
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Journals that publish open access without charging authors article processing charges are sometimes referred to as diamond or platinum OA. Since they do not charge either readers or authors directly, such publishers often require funding from external sources such as the sale of advertisements, academic institutions, learned societies, philanthropists or government grants. There are now over 350 platinum OA journals with impact factors over a wide variety of academic disciplines, giving most academics options for OA with no APCs. Diamond OA journals are available for most disciplines, and are usually small (<25 articles per year) and more likely to be multilingual (38%); thousands of such journals exist.
Contrary to a widespread belief that open access publications are paid by their authors, a significant amount of scientific articles are published with no fees to both readers and authors (or “Diamond” model). In 2021, it is estimated that between 17,000 and 29,000 scientific journals rely on a Diamond model. 73% of the journals registered in the Directory of Open Access Journals charge no fee. The Diamond model is attested on a world wide scale. It is especially prevalent in Latin America (95% of journals) following the emergence of large publicly-supported platforms, such as SciELO and Redalyc and to a lesser extent in Eastern Europe and South-East Asian countries like Indonesia. Diamond journals are frequently embedded in local communities of researchers, non-academic professionals and private citizens: they play an important role in the circulation of knowledge and in the preservation of linguistic diversity in science. Diamond journals are an efficient economic model. The median cost per article is estimated at $200, or 1/6th of the expenses of commercial journals. Most of their funding is covered by a variety of non-commercial support: recurrent funding, grants, technical support, volunteer work. Diamond journals are also less productive than commercial journals. They represent a lower output of academic articles overall, making up less than half of all publications indexed by the Directory of Open Access Journals. While the concept of “diamond journal” was only introdu
with no fees to either reader or author. Alternative labels include platinum open access, non-commercial open access, cooperative open access or, more
Diamond open access refers to academic texts (such as monographs, edited collections, and journal articles) published, distributed, and preserved with no fees to either reader or author. Alternative labels include platinum open access, non-commercial open access, cooperative open access or, more recently, open access commons. While these terms were first coined in the 2000s and the 2010s, they hav
Diamond open access refers to academic texts (such as monographs, edited collections, and journal articles) published, distributed, and preserved with no fees to either reader or author. Alternative labels include platinum open access, non-commercial open access, cooperative open access or, more recently, open access commons. While these terms were first coined in the 2000s and the 2010s, they have been retroactively applied to a variety of structures and forms of publishing, from subsidized university publishers to volunteer-run cooperatives that existed in prior decades.
In 2021, it is estimated that between 17,000 and 29,000 scientific journals rely on a diamond open access model. They make up 73% of the journals registered in the Directory of Open Access Journals and 44% of the articles, as their mean output is smaller than commercial journals. The diamond model has been especially successful in Latin America-based journals (95% of OA journals) following the emergence of large publicly supported platforms, such as SciELO and Redalyc. However, Diamond OA journals are under-represented in the major scholarly databases, such as Web of Science and Scopus. It is also noteworthy, that high-income countries "have the highest share of authorship in every domain and type of journal, except for diamond journals in the social sciences and humanities".
In 2022, new national and international policies, such as the UNESCO recommendation on open science, and the Action…
The costs of Open Access publishing increase year by year (e.g. Zhang et al. 2022). Diamond Open Access (OA), in which journals and platforms do not charge fees to either authors or readers, has been hoped to provide solutions for the current situation. Also, the Council of the EU highlights the importance of Diamond OA in the recent Council Conclusions (8827/23). Various incentives, such as Action Plan for Diamond Open Access, DIAMAS and Craft-OA are established to support the development of Diamond OA. However, do researchers really use Diamond OA publication venues? Is Diamond OA a researcher’s best friend or just a rarely met distant relative? Both international (Bosman et al. 2021) and national level (Frantsvåg 2022) studies have been conducted in relation with Diamond OA. This poster views the phenomenon on a local level by illustrating Diamond OA publishing at the Finnish Aalto University in 2018–2022. Aalto University consists of six schools: School of Arts, Design and Architecture, School of Business, School of Chemical Engineering, School of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering and School of Science. Aalto Current Research Information System, ACRIS contains the comprehensive publication data of university’s researchers. Information on Diamond OA journals was added to ACRIS journal records in the spring 2023. We identified Diamond OA journals in ACRIS by using Directory of Open Access Journals and journals’ web pages. This information in relation with public
This study provides an overview of open access (OA) journals in Africa that do not charge fees for either authors or readers (often referred to as Diamond OA journals). It is based on survey responses from 199 journals, 21 institutional, national and continental platforms that host Diamond OA journals, and 25 country reports with information about current funding and financial sustainability approaches and challenges, institutional in-kind support, incentives and collaborations among Diamond OA journals, needs and strategies to advance Diamond OA publishing. This landscape study was conducted as a part of the three-year ‘Collaboration for sustainable open access publishing in Africa’ project (November 2023- October 2026), implemented by EIFL, AJOL (African Journals Online) and WACREN (the West and Central African Research and Education Network) with support from Wellcome. The study informed and guided us in our planning for developing and delivering a participatory funding approach to strengthen the quality and sustainability of African Diamond OA publishing while maintaining its diversity. The project will also strengthen national and regional collaboration on Diamond OA publishing and seek to secure funding commitments from African governments and institutions by embedding support for Diamond OA publishing in open science policies.
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