On 1 May 2025, the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft – DFG) concluded a three-year service agreement with the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) - the internationally recognized directory of quality-assured open access journals. The aim is to increase the visibility of Diamond Open Access journals in Germany in particular - i.e. publications that do not incur any costs for readers or authors.
Support and analysis of hurdles
In addition to support measures for publishers, libraries and learned societies, the agreement also provides for an analysis of existing hurdles to DOAJ acceptance. The launch of the service agreement coincides with the start of the work of the new national service centre for diamond open access SeDOA. Both initiatives will work closely together in future.
DOAJ as a DFG funding criterion
Since the end of 2024, DOAJ acceptance has been a prerequisite in the DFG funding program Infrastructures for Scholarly Publishing. The Open Access Publication Funding program also recommends orientation towards DOAJ criteria.
Further information:
You can read a DFG announcement on the cooperation in Information for Researchers No. 33: https://www.dfg.de/en/news/news-topics/announcements-proposals/2025/ifr-25-33