Photo by Katerina Pavlyuchkova on Unsplash
By Tracy Creagh, Queensland University of Technology.
Australian Scholarly Communications Community of Practice Diamond Journal Publishing subgroup
A new Australian community of practice focused on ‘Diamond Open Access’ has been formed. The sub-group is part of the Australian Scholarly Communications Community of Practice, an initiative of Open Access Australasia, CAUL, and Creative Commons Australia. In late 2023, expressions of interest were called for convenors for two new sub-groups: Diamond Journal Publishing and Repositories and both sub-groups commenced in early 2024.
Diamond Open Access 
Diamond Open Access (OA) refers to a scholarly publication model in which journals and platforms do not charge fees to either authors or readers. Generally publishing costs are facilitated by academic institutions, community groups or governments.
Image generated by Google ImageFX
In the last decade there has been increased interest in the value of this publishing model with a number of new diamond OA initiatives, primarily in Europe (including the DIAMAS and CRAFT-OA projects, Plan for Diamond Open Access). In 2020 the most significant survey of international diamond OA journals was conducted by Science Europe and cOAlition S with a final report released in 2021. The recommendations were designed to help research funding organisations, institutions, scholarly societies, and infrastructures sustainably strengthen OA diamond journals in the context of Open Science. 2023 saw the inaugural Global Summit on Diamond OA bringing together 700 international delegates who presented a set of pledges for furthering diamond OA.
To-date, there are no specific activities or initiatives that comprehensively address diamond OA in Australia. A snapshot of open access practice in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand was captured in a 2022 Open Access Australasia report (Catterall & Barbour) which indicated that 31 of the 56 universities published easily discoverable open journals. While all these journals may not necessarily fall under the diamond model, it seems timely to bring together those practitioners working with diamond journals, or those exploring the value of publishing in this mode.
Diamond Journal Publishing subgroup 
The new sub-group will seek to provide members with a participatory and engaging community for helping each other with everyday practice, as well as opportunities for discussion, development, and dissemination of best practices and strategies. The Diamond OA Sub-Group anticipates the community will become a central body to advocate for inclusive, equitable, sustainable, community-controlled OA publishing.
Photo by Luke Southern on Unsplash
The sub-group will meet on a bi-monthly basis during 2024 and meetings will have a specific theme/focus (e.g. DOAJ listing, indexing, archiving, publishing platforms, etc.). Members can expect to participate in both small group (in breakout rooms) and large group activities, such as:
- Discussion of recent developments, activities and practices
- Lightning talks, e.g. a community member offers a short presentation related to progressing the diamond OA agenda or a show-and-tell related to their everyday work related to diamond OA or how their institution supports diamond OA.
- Professional development opportunities, e.g., guest speakers or watch-alongs plus discussion
If you would like to join the Diamond Journal Publishing subgroup please contact one of the conveners below or email contact@oaaustralasia.org
AuSCCoP Diamond Journal Publishing subgroup webpage
The first community meeting will be held on Thursday the 18th of April (1-1.45pm AEST) and will be followed by a special DOAJ webinar hosted by the new sub-group and Open Access Australasia Enhancing the visibility of diamond and institutional journals through indexing in DOAJ
REGISTER for DOAJ WEBINAR
Diamond Journal Publishing subgroup Convenors
The co-convenors of the Diamond Journal Publishing Sub-Group are:
Tracy Creagh, Journal Manager, Academic Journals, Office for Scholarly Communications, QUT Library, QUT. t.creagh@qut.edu.au
Lauren Halcomb-Smith, Manager, Scholarly Communication and Research Outputs, Deakin Library, Deakin University. l.halcombsmith@deakin.edu.au
Zachary Kendal, Scholarly Communications Specialist and Acting Senior Research Development Coordinator, The University of Melbourne. zachary.kendal@unimelb.edu.au
