Hi all! There have been several publications recently raising concerns about the sustainability of Diamond Open Access, questioning whether it might be a utopia “too good to be true.”
I’m sharing a few key resources on this topic: the already-mentioned “Diamond Open Access – Too Good to Be True?” by Ulrich Herb, shared by @anna.hughes in a fellow discussion, and the new article by Maryam Sayab, “Diamond Dreams, Unequal Realities: The Promise and Pitfalls of No-APC Open Access.”
Maryam Sayab concludes with this:
“Ideals alone cannot sustain journals. ‘Free’ is never free. (…) The most important question is not how many journals are Diamond, but how many can endure — and what we, as a global community, are willing to do to ensure they do. Access is the first step; equity and sustainability must follow.”
Following up on this article, I’m also sharing the letter written by the editorial board of the journal mentioned in it. In their statement, they explain why they ultimately decided to wind down the journal, facing too many sustainability challenges. It’s interesting to read as an example of why they felt that Diamond OA didn’t work for them, and it raises important questions about what kind of systemic and structural support is truly needed to make Diamond OA viable in the long run.