EIFL is one of 23 partners in the ‘Developing Institutional Open Access Publishing Models to Advance Scholarly Communication’ (DIAMAS) project, which was launched in September 2022 to enhance open access publishing in the European Research Area (ERA). 

In the transition towards open access (OA), institutional publishing is challenged by fragmentation and varying service quality, visibility, and sustainability. The three-year DIAMAS project, which is funded by the European Union, aims to address these challenges and to deliver an aligned, high-quality, and sustainable institutional OA scholarly publication ecosystem for the ERA, setting a new standard for OA publishing, shared and co-designed with all stakeholders.

Diamond OA refers to a scholarly publication model in which journals and platforms do not charge fees to either authors or readers. The project will also interact closely with the global community of the ‘Action Plan for Diamond OA’ signatories. 

The DIAMAS project partnership comprises 23 organizations from 12 European countries with expertise in OA academic publishing and scholarly communication: Aix-Marseille Université (AMU) (Coordinator), OPERAS, CNRS, EIFL, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV), JISC, the Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER), University of Barcelona, University of Zadar, University of Zagreb, Science Europe, the European University Association (EUA), the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), Arctic University of Norway, the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), University of Göttingen, SPARC Europe, Utrecht University, the National Documentation Centre (EKT), IBL-PAN, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and the European Science Foundation (ESF) (acting for cOAlition S).

TIMELINE

2022 - 2025

ACTIVITIES

• Map the current landscape of Institutional Publishing Service Providers (IPSPs) in 25 countries of the ERA with special attention for IPSPs that do not charge fees for publishing or reading. This will yield a taxonomy of IPSPs and an IPSP landscape report, to inform project implementation. 
• Coordinate and improve the efficiency and quality of IPSPs by developing a Diamond OA Standard (DOAS) to promote quality in Diamond OA publishing. 
• Formulate community-led, actionable recommendations and Diamond OA publishing strategies for institutional leaders, funders/sponsors/donors and policymakers in the ERA. Workshops and targeted networking actions will reach and engage institutional decision-makers. 

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Co-created the Diamond OA Standard (DOAS), which sets out standards for institutional publishing (IP) of scholarly journals, with a special focus on those publishing models that do not charge fees to authors or readers. The DOAS includes a self-assessment tool - a practical benchmarking resource to elevate standards in scholarly publishing. More about the DOAS. 
• Launched the European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH) to provide - a collective that provides services for Diamond OA publishers, and service, tools and technology providers. EDCH includes the DOAS and its self-assessment tool, Resources and Guidelines, a Forum and a Registry of Diamond OA publishing and service providing organizations highlighting their expertise, services, and operational capacities; and a Training Platform with a range of courses on Diamond OA publishing and DOAS implementation.  
• Released Diamond OA Recommendations and Guidelines for Institutions, Funders, Sponsors, Donors, and Policymakers (2025) that highlight the collective responsibility for Diamond OA publishing and the need for all stakeholders to collaborate in order to ensure long-term sustainability of Diamond OA publishing. 
• Conducted a survey (2023) to learn more about the landscape of institutional publishing in the ERA, and published the report,  Institutional Publishing in the ERA: Results from the DIAMAS survey. A summary of the survey results are included in a factsheet for libraries that also includes tools and networking opportunities for libraries involved in institutional publishing.
• Researched the financial sustainability of institutional publishing in Europe and developed resources to support sustainability: 
  • Published results of the research and recommendations in the report, The financial sustainability of institutional publishers and service providers in Europe. See a summary of the results in this blog post and factsheet. 
  • Published the DIAMAS case study report, Research funders committing to Diamond Open Access, and a report, Collaboration in Diamond Open Access publishing.
  • Compiled the report, National overviews on sustaining institutional publishing in Europe. Countries covered are Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and the UK. 
  • Developed resources to advocate for, and to support the practical implementation of, Diamond OA. 
• Developed the Best Practices checklist for Diamond OA publishers (part of the DIAMAS Best practices report, based on an analysis of the existing quality evaluation criteria, best practices, and assessment systems in publishing developed by international publishers associations, research funding organizations, international indexing databases, etc.).