‘Diamond’ a new category in the Swiss Open Access Journal Monitor

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The “Swiss Open Access Monitor” now also includes the category “Diamond Open Access”. This is an important step for the development of science-led publishing.

Since 2022, the «Swiss Open Access Monitor» has been collecting indicators on the status of the OA transformation in Switzerland. In addition to the categories of Green, Hybrid und Gold Open Access, the Journal Monitor has recently started to also record the share of Diamond Open Access, based on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) in which journals can be indexed if they meet certain criteria.

The inclusion of the category ‹Diamond OA›, in which neither authors nor readers are charged, is an important step for the visibility and development of community-driven publishing as an independent OA publishing model. This step follows the developments within the last few years which saw the inception of national and international initiatives and projects for the promotion of Diamond Open Access that want to make the change to an open publishing culture as sustainable, fair and inclusive as possible.

Improve data situation – generate visibility

With the implementation of Diamond in the Swiss Journal Monitor, a more comprehensive overview of the Swiss Open Access landscape is now possible, providing valuable data for decision-makers at universities, libraries and funding organisations. This is also a positive signal to the editors of Diamond OA journals, even though not all existing Swiss Diamond Open Access journals are registered in the DOAJ.

One of the aims of the «Platinum Open Access Funding» (PLATO) project is therefore to increase the share of Swiss Diamond OA journals in the DOAJ by, for example, providing information on standards and best practices for the editors of Diamond Open Access journals. Because, as the PLATO study has shown, visibility is not only central to the profile and reputation of Diamond Open Access journals, but also one of their greatest challenges.

The «Swiss Open Access Monitor» records and visualises the scientific publications of employees at any university in the network of swissuniversities. The data on which the Swiss Open Access Monitor is based are retrieved from the institutional repositories (Repository Monitor) on the one hand, and from the ‹Dimensions› database (Journal Monitor) on the other. The data are constantly updated.

Daniela Hahn, UZH project leader PLATO