Sustainable Support for Diamond Open Access Journals: The Case of the Open Library of Economics

Abstract

In recent years, the discourse around Open Access has highlighted the importance of Diamond Open Access. Diamond Open Access removes financial barriers for both authors and readers, thereby enabling more equity in the dissemination of scientific research. Science policy makers and funders also have recognized the value of Diamond Open Access. The Action Plan for Diamond Open Access (Ancion et al., 2022) and the planning of global, regional and local Diamond Open Access hubs (Mounier & Rooryck, 2023) illustrate this development.

A major challenge that arises when Open Access is free for readers and authors is the issue of funding. Diamond Open Access initiatives are often community-governed and frequently independent of big commercial publishers. These initiatives need sustainable funding to be able to continue operating.  

Collective funding models offer a solution to this problem. For example, consortial funding has successfully financed the Open Library of the Humanities for almost 10 years now, and commercial companies such as Knowledge Unlatched also utilize similar models. However, there are some challenges with this kind of funding model, particularly as more initiatives seek collective funding.

The presentation will focus on some of the challenges and solutions of collective funding models form Diamond Open Access at the example of the Open Library Economics (OLEcon). OLEcon is an initiative from ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre Economics (Germany). OLEcon offers support for journal editors in the disciplines business and economics who want to establish a scholar-led Diamond Open Access model for their journals. Additionally, OLEcon organizes a funding consortium for these journals.

The first challenge that OLEcon encounters is that institutions receive “nothing” in return if they contribute to Diamond Open Access initiatives. This is in contrast to transformative agreements where institutions receive exclusive rights for their affiliates if they participate in the agreement. Second, libraries have limited funds for Open Access so they can not finance every Open Access initiative. In a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), OLEKonsort (2023-2026), these problems are addressed by establishing several stabilising mechanisms for the funding consortium. These include an easy participation process, and a community building approach. The presentation discusses the experiences that were made in the first two years of the project.