EIFL, AJOL (African Journals Online) and WACREN (the West and Central African Research and Education Network), with funding from Wellcome, have launched a three-year project that will develop and deliver a participatory funding approach to strengthen the quality and sustainability of African diamond open access (OA) publishing while maintaining their diversity. Diamond OA means that authors and readers pay no fees to publish or read articles. 

The project will also strengthen national and regional collaboration on diamond OA and seek to secure funding commitments from African governments and institutions by embedding support for diamond OA in open science policies. 

TIMELINE

November 2023 to October 2026 

ACTIVITIES

• Identify challenges facing diamond OA publishing in Africa through community consultation and a landscape study;  
• Design and issue two open calls for proposals for funding (in 2024 and in 2025) to strengthen the quality of diamond OA publishing across the African continent; 
• Provide services to a growing number of diamond OA journals hosted on AJOL’s platform and enhance their quality standards;
• Through WACREN, provide technical assistance to national OA publishing platforms in selected West African countries;
• Define costs and strategies for flipping APC-based journals (that charge Article Processing Fees - APCs - for authors of journal articles) to diamond OA and discuss sustainability models with journals and the institutions supporting them;
• Launch a policy observatory with funding commitments from institutions and governments provided to diamond OA initiatives. 

See the project poster presented at the Global Diamond OA Summit, Toluca, Mexico,  23- 27 October  2023.

Contact: Iryna Kuchma, EIFL Open Access Programme Manager - iryna.kuchma@eifl.net

More about the EIFL Open Access Programme