Running a Diamond Open Access Journal (and Surviving It)

How can we avoid (self-)exploitation and ensure professional publishing without recurring to APCs and similar evils?

Abstract

The workshop is predominantly directed at editors, editorial board members, publishers, and administrators of academic open access journals. During a 90-minutes session, we will offer a venue for discussing key challenges to, and possible supporting frameworks for, the professional running of academic diamond open access journals. Diamond open access publishing is time-consuming and often characterized by lack of sufficient funding and resources. This creates challenges and stresses for editors and editorial board members who must not only assess incoming papers, oversee peer-review processes, and organize revisions, but also deal with technicalities connected to hosting platforms as well as actively engage in copy- and layout-editing. In particular the latter tasks could easily be outsourced if the necessary funding or supporting frameworks could be made available. This would leave considerably more time to focus on the academic aspects of the publishing process and reduce pressures and stresses on journal editors, board members, and volunteers.

Questions the workshop will address include (but are not limited to) the following: What experiences do participants have with OA academic publishing? Which strategies for ensuring proper peer-reviews, editing, and publishing do exist? Which funding schemes exist that journal editors can apply for to cover running expenses for copy- and layout-editing, journal hosting, technical support, and more? Are there options for increased cooperation between journals to address such challenges? …?

The workshop starts with 3 lighting talks of approximately 5 minutes each by Holger Pötzsch (co-editor-in-chief of Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture), Justin Parks (editor-in-chief of American Studies in Scandinavia), and Jan Erik Frantsvåg (Septentrio Academic Publishing/UB). The talks will focus on experiences with publishing diamond OA journals and on potential support infrastructures. After the talks we engage in plenary discussions. Dependent upon number of participants, we might engage in group work around specific themes before reconvening for quick presentations and final discussions.

Duration: 90 minutes

No preparations required