Coalition Publica, Public Knowledge Project and Érudit are pleased to present their diamond open access statement.
Drapeau avec le symbole du libre accès diamant
By gathering community support for non-commercial, scholar-led journals, diamond open access is best placed to achieve the objectives of the open access movement and to reclaim research as a public good.

For many years now, Coalition Publica, and its constituent partners Érudit and PKP, have been involved in various national and international initiatives regarding open access (OA). These discussions have confirmed our position that diamond open access is the most promising approach to achieve the aims that the OA movement articulated over twenty years ago. By affirming our support for diamond open access, we reinforce our commitment to the collective transformation of scholarly publishing in Canada and around the world.

In Canada, where most journals are in the humanities and social sciences, diamond open access is already the dominant publishing model. Canadian diamond OA journals play an important role in sustaining a high level of bibliodiversity in research outputs because they:
  • support the publication of work in Canada’s both official languages, English and French, as well as many others;
  • reflect a diversity of disciplines and research topics, maintaining venues for the publication of studies about Canada; and
  • provide an opportunity for researchers from diverse backgrounds to publish their work at all stages of their careers.

What is diamond open access?

Diamond open access is a model for publishing scientific research that is free for both readers and authors, with costs covered by the research community and governments through institutional contributions, public grants, and cooperative funding models. Diamond open access journals are non-commercial and rooted in the scientific community.
Unlike journals based on article processing charges (APCs), Canadian diamond open access journals do not require researchers to pay to publish their ideas. Unlike subscription journals, articles published by Canadian diamond open access journals are freely accessible for research, higher education, and the benefit of society as a whole. In short, the situation in Canada proves that diamond open access is undoubtedly the fairest model for both readers and authors.

Business models based on high APCs have been shown to reduce equity and diversity in scientific publishing, while paving the way for practices that threaten research integrity. These APCs also place a heavy financial burden on the budgets of universities and libraries around the world. The same applies to research grants, whenever public funds are used to pay for APCs imposed by for-profit publishers. The commercial takeover of scientific publishing is a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of research communication, and those who advocate for diamond open access believe it is urgent to reaffirm that research must remain a public good.

Coalition Publica actions for diamond open access 

→ Coalition Publica shared its key takeaways from the inaugural Global Summit on Diamond Open Access in Toluca, Mexico, which gathered international players in diamond OA publishing.
→ Coalition Publica signed the Action Plan for Diamond Open Access, developed by ANR, cOAlition S, OPERAS, and Science Europe.
→ The Partnership for Open Access (POA) is a pillar of Coalition Publica’s services to support Canadian scholarly journals. The POA enables diamond OA publishing in Canada by providing financial support to non-commercial scholarly journals from library partners. Over 160 diamond OA journals are currently supported by the POA.

In Canada, we are fortunate to have many partners willing to engage in supporting diamond OA publishing, including the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, and the numerous libraries offering publishing and hosting services to journals across the country. We are also pleased that the benefits of diamond OA are being recognized by Canada’s research funding agencies. The Fonds de recherche du Québec has announced that its journal funding program will support only diamond OA journals in the future, while also investing in the creation of a collaborative research and services network for scholarly journal publishing. Our federal research funding agencies recently released a report from the consultation process for a revised OA policy that indicated high levels of interest in diamond OA.

This outward support in Canada reflects the momentum that diamond OA is gaining internationally. The landmark OA Diamond Journals Study (2021) revealed the huge number of active diamond OA journals and their high impact. The subsequent Action Plan for Diamond Open Access (2022) paved the way for the first Global Summit on Diamond Open Access (2023), hosted by diamond OA pioneer Redalyc, in partnership with UNESCO, cOAlition S, and Science Europe, among others. Coalition Publica partners Érudit and PKP are proud to be engaged in the global effort to promote and sustain diamond OA publishing, alongside other non-APC OA models such as Subscribe to Open (S2O), to reclaim research as a public good.

We envision a future where OA journals that operate without APCs are adequately supported by the research community, via institutional contributions, public funds, and sound policy. Diamond open access maximizes the value that all stakeholders invest in the research ecosystem and we at Coalition Publica call on all parties to unite around this truly transformational OA paradigm.