A collection of frequently asked questions introduced the topic. Together, the participants from the area of publication support identified what requirements exist for diamond open access publishing in general and what requirements vary depending on the discipline. The challenges identified across all disciplines included the following:

• the lack of basic knowledge about (diamond) open access at all qualification levels
• the link between the attribution of reputation and established publishers and a related desire to build a reputation. Here, the structural dependence of early career researchers on their mentors was emphasised as a “first-mover problem”.
• legal uncertainties regarding rights in images and data (copyright) and the publication process (e.g. licensing) in general
• securing funding to finance one’s own publications or publication outlets (from project status to the long-term funding of services)
• making one’s own research visible, for example by networking texts, data, code, etc.
• strengthening exchanges between libraries and researchers

To meet these challenges, knowledge must be expanded and communication between researchers and publication-support services strengthened. At the same time, answers to the questions mentioned above may differ to some extent depending on the requirements in the respective disciplines. It is therefore advisable to create a general information offering in addition to discipline-specific offerings. Participants identified professors, early career researchers, the research and transfer department, subject specialists, and lecturers as stakeholders to be involved within individual institutions. They noted that students played a special role for two reasons: first, because they are in regular contact with libraries; second, because in the future they will themselves contribute knowledge about scientific communication, including publishing, to science.

The participants shared experiences of existing offerings at their institutions or in their services. Three areas were perceived as especially relevant for strengthening diamond open access: community building (training offerings and opportunities for exchange), offering advice on or providing tools and infrastructures, and information on legal questions.

The following were identified as promising formats for building and strengthening discipline-oriented communities of practice for (diamond) open access publishing:

• regular, direct contact with professors, including the identification of needs
• hosting events with plenty of opportunities for contact (e.g. coffee lectures), which enable micro-feedback
• creating offerings for early career researchers (e.g. participation in doctoral student networks and post-graduate programmes, involvement of early career research offices)
• designating a point of contact for open access and open science
• implementing open access and open science in curricula

 Participants noted that to establish basic knowledge about diamond open access and scholarly publishing, external offerings could additionally be availed of. For example, the offerings of open-access.network and the national Service Center for Diamond Open Access (SeDOA) are considered helpful. For support with legal questions, the following offerings could be referred to or used: the Law & Open Research Network, the Legal Helpdesk of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), irights.info, the Legal Helpdesk of the federal state initiative open-access.nrw, and the Copyright Service Point (Servicestelle Urheberrecht) of the Specialised Information Service for Communication and Media Studies (FID Media).
As relevant infrastructure offerings, the provision of open source publishing software (e.g. Open Journal Systems, Open Monograph Press) and the use of external publication offerings for diamond open access publishing (e.g. Open Research Europe) were mentioned. Support in indexing works in databases – for example the Electronic Journals Library (EZB), the catalogue of the German National Library (DNB), the Diamond Discovery Hub, the Directory of Open Access Journals, or the Directory of Open Access Books – is considered important.

In addition to the interdisciplinary challenges mentioned above, requirements that vary depending by discipline also became apparent. For example, in disciplines with an international focus (e.g. climate impact research), multilingual user interfaces or the publication of multilingual content is necessary. It was noted that members of “young” disciplines (e.g. gender studies) were more open towards non-commercial publication offerings than were members of established disciplines (e.g. chemistry). The latter needed more advice on diamond open access offerings, as they used offerings in particular within the framework of “Publish and Read” agreements. It was noted that the decision to establish and design one’s own publication venues also varied according to the resources of the respective disciplines. For example, depending on the size of the discipline, researchers tended to opt more for independent solutions or cooperative projects. One interdisciplinary challenge that many editors of scholarly publications faced was recruiting experts  to ensure academic quality (e.g. peer review, copy editing).

When collecting ideas, it became apparent that the publication of research results should be considered holistically and in the broader context of open science. It was noted that there were support offerings in many areas, which could be availed of. By way of example, services in the areas of open data and open educational resources (OER) (educational sciences) were mentioned. Regarding the establishment of basic knowledge on open data, mention was made of the platform forschungsdaten.info. In the case of a discipline-specific focus, those who are interested can be referred to information or offerings provided by the NFDI consortia, the Specialised Information Services for Science (FID für die Wissenschaft) programme, Qualiservices (social sciences), or the German Network of Educational Research Data (VerbundFDB). In the area of OER, which is especially relevant for those involved in teaching, ORCA.nrw, OERinfo, Twillo, and ZOERR were mentioned.

The lively discussion showed that diamond open access should be considered as part of a broad range of approaches to scholarly communication. There are already offerings that cover both general and discipline-specific needs. The knowledge base of the institution-specific and overarching services should be expanded continuously – also in light of changing publication processes. The production of overview knowledge plays a key role here. Science-led communication benefits from cooperation and ongoing exchange among all stakeholders.

Martin, L., Heit, A., Butz, A., Afanaseva, A. (2026): Diamond Open Access vermitteln und fördern - eine Session, viele Denkanstöße. open-access.network. DOI: 10.64395/7fmm9-k2s13