As part of the information series "Die Open-Access-Transformation nachhaltig gestalten. Diamond Open Access als Alternative" [Sustainably Organising the Open Access Transformation. Diamond Open Access as an Alternative], three representatives of the international publishing landscape presented their efforts for and perspectives on the development of diamond open access.

First, Fernanda Beigel presented her activities and experiences in the Latin American open science community. She is a researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET, Argentina) and Director of the Research Center on the Circulation of Knowledge (CECIC) at the National University of Cuyo in Argentina. In addition, Fernanda Beigel also participates in international projects and initiatives. For example, she was involved in drafting the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, which, as she noted, places particular emphasis on the values of openness and inclusiveness.

Fernanda Beigel emphasised the standing of open access as the most advanced aspect of the open science idea. However, she noted that the structural problem with open access is that, from the very beginning, it has been part of a publishing system that is already commercially oriented and organised, and that it is therefore difficult to fully implement the open science idea. In Argentina, for example, there were increasing signs of unwelcome backward trend towards closed access. This was due to the high article processing charges (APCs) for publications in commercial journals. As many members of financially weaker institutions cannot afford these charges, they are forced to publish their works closed access in subscription-based journals. Fernanda Beigel noted that other well-known factors such as journal reputation also play a role in this development, and that closed access journals are therefore once again an increasingly attractive option.

For this reason, increased efforts to implement open access publishing models without APCs (i.e. diamond open access) are desirable. To provide an overview of diamond open access structures worldwide, Fernanda Beigel recorded and mapped the number of diamond open access journals by country. To do so, she used data from both global (e.g. DOAJ) and local directories (e.g. OLIVA). What is striking is the existence of individual "islands of diamond open access", for example in Indonesia, Poland, and the entire Latin American region. Especially in Latin America, where historically there have been many diamond open access initiatives, there are also a large number of directories and indices for recording diamond open access structures. By way of example, Fernanda Beigel presented the latindex, which has been recording publications since 1994 and is now the largest diamond open access directory in the region.

From Fernanda Beigel's point of view, this local concentration of diamond open access infrastructures is problematic. She diagnosed excessive fragmentation and a related lack of coordination for an open and inclusive publishing system, both at local and international level. When asked about her vision for the diamond open access movement, she called for a fundamental rethink in the scholarly publishing system, which would enable a reorientation of the evaluation of research. In addition, Ms Beigel sees a growing crisis in the traditional publishing system based on closed access and the hegemony of large publishers. In her view, growing financial problems in science and academia are being exacerbated by commercial publishing structures and are creating a tense situation. Especially in the case of Argentina, there was great uncertainty (or even dystopia) regarding the financial situation, as political developments had led to hitherto autonomous universities being deprived of all state funding. Nonetheless, Fernanda Beigel expressed the hope that the emerging crisis situation could be used as an opportunity to develop and establish a new and better functioning system.

Next, Caroline Edwards, Executive Director and co-founder of the Open Library of Humanities (OLH) and Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Literature and Culture at Birkbeck, University of London, spoke about her experiences with international diamond open access. Launched in 2013, the OLH is a diamond open access publisher with a focus on the humanities. The OLH currently publishes a total of 33 diamond open access journals using its own in-house software (Janeway). Many of the steadily increasing number of journals that decide to operate on a not-for-profit and community-led basis in the future are breaking away from the large commercial publishers (especially Wiley). The OLH is funded through a membership model. Most of the members are North American and European institutions. Revenues from membership fees cover the expenditure of the publishing operation, of which by far the largest share (ca. 75%) is accounted for by personnel costs (10 staff members at present). The OLH also generates a small amount of revenue by making the Janeway software available to other publishers for a fee.

The OLH is facing a number of challenges in its efforts to support journals in the transformation to a diamond open access model. The gratifyingly high demand on the part of journals willing to switch to diamond open access is encountering limited capacity on the part of the OLH. In addition, during the switch, problems and challenges often arise in relation to the migration of commercially published back issues. Furthermore, persuasion is often necessary to convince the previous editors to continue their work under the journal's new publishing format. The conversion of a journal to a non-profit model often involves a change of name, as the rights to the name are often held by the commercial publishers. Despite these obstacles, 10 journals have succeeded in switching to a diamond open access model in the last 12 months.

The OLH is facing a number of challenges in its efforts to support journals in the transformation to a diamond open access model. The gratifyingly high demand on the part of journals willing to switch to diamond open access is encountering limited capacity on the part of the OLH. In addition, during the switch, problems and challenges often arise in relation to the migration of commercially published back issues. Furthermore, persuasion is often necessary to convince the previous editors to continue their work under the journal's new publishing format. The conversion of a journal to a non-profit model often involves a change of name, as the rights to the name are often held by the commercial publishers. Despite these obstacles, 10 journals have succeeded in switching to a diamond open access model in the last 12 months.

The event concluded with a presentation by Pierre Mounier from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris), who gave insights into his work in the area of research infrastructures. As Deputy Director of OpenEdition, Co-Coordinator of OPERAS, Co-Director of the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), and co-project lead of the DIAMAS project, he presented two key initiatives in which he is heavily involved: DIAMAS and the European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH).

Launched in 2022, the DIAMAS project is examining the institutional and political framework conditions for diamond open access in Europe. Its aim is to analyse existing diamond open access infrastructures, further develop corresponding services, and formulate standards, guidelines, and recommendations for policymakers to promote diamond open access. This investigation is being conducted by an international consortium of 23 research institutions and infrastructure providers.

A key term in this context is "institutional publishing service providers" (IPSPs), under which publishing infrastructures for diamond open access are subsumed. A total of 685 IPSPs have been analysed within the framework of DIAMAS. IPSPs comprise two categories: institutional publishers (IPs), which bear legal, ethical, or scientific responsibility for scholarly publishing, and service providers (SPs), which have responsibility for specific activities in the publishing process. Both types may be integrated in a single IPSP. Whereas other projects, such as CRAFT-OA, focus primarily on technical solutions, DIAMAS looks at infrastructures in a broader sense. In addition to technical services, this also includes the organisational framework conditions of the IPSPs, for example their networking or the provision of advice on best practices.

Building on the work of the DIAMAS project, the European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH) was created. The EDCH focuses primarily on the networking of IPSPs. It will provide an infrastructure that enables IPSPs to share with each other and coordinate their experiences and efforts in the area of diamond open access. The aim is to strengthen the community, identify synergies, and make better use of existing capacities. Operatively, six task forces have been established for this purpose; they specialise in sub-topics such as technical solutions, staff training programmes, and finance. In addition, various services are being developed to facilitate collaboration in the area of diamond open access. This includes, for example, the development of a diamond open access standard to help with the evaluation of individual journals and a Diamond Discovery Hub, that is, a list of diamond open access organisations and journals.

Pierre Mounier then gave a brief overview of the current status of political developments in the area of open access in France. He noted that because policymakers have to date been open-minded towards open science, there are good conditions, comprehensive structures, and high quality standards at French diamond open access journals (e.g. DOIs). However, a political turnaround seems to be on the horizon, which has created a precarious situation because French IPSPs are particularly strongly integrated in the public sector and are heavily dependent on it for financial support. In France, too, there is therefore some uncertainty regarding the future of diamond open access projects and initiatives.

Finally, Pierre Mounier widened the lens and adopted a global perspective. As one of the greatest challenges, he identified the strong fragmentation of efforts in the area of diamond open access. He argued that only if the global diamond open access community acted in a coordinated and strategic way would it have a chance of prevailing against commercially oriented giants such as Springer and Elsevier. Projects such as the EDCH, which place networking centre stage, play an important role in counteracting global and local fragmentation. Furthermore, certain values or fruitless terminological disputes (such as the discussion about the "correct" definition of diamond open access) often unnecessarily hamper collaboration. Instead of getting lost in almost irrelevant details, the existing commitment and energy should be bundled in order to strengthen collaboration in practice, and thus come closer to achieving the larger and overarching objectives.

In the ensuing discussion, the striking fact was addressed that the work of all three speakers is considerably threatened by the uncertain political circumstances in their respective countries. Dependence on political developments has proved to be an unavoidable factor of uncertainty, as the supposed alternative to public sponsorship – namely, commercial sources of funding – ultimately cannot act completely independently of political decisions.