Research results that are published through the diamond route are immediately available to the public, free of charge. Authors do not pay a publication fee (Article Processing Charges or APC’s). Instead, these not-for-profit initiatives are supported by institutions like the VU, societies or funds.
Non-profit and scholarly led
Diamond publishers often make use of voluntary work provided by scientists acting as editor or peer reviewer. Therefore, the cost of editing, peer reviewing, online publishing and hosting can be kept to a minimum. Furthermore, most diamond initiatives are founded within the academic community, contributing to a cost-efficient, sustainable and diverse publication landscape.
What we do
VU is committed to moving towards increasingly sustainable, cost-effective alternative Open Access publishing platforms (e.g. not-for-profit and government-run platforms) and other community-driven initiatives/services/infrastructure which increase academic sovereignty over scientific knowledge and are summarised under the diamond route.
The VU aims to encourage staff to contribute to the open science innovations of the publication system, for example by pre-registering work, sharing results early as preprints and engaging in open (post-publication) peer review. The University Library can also help set up open access journals.
Are you aware of an important diamond publisher or journal within your field that deserves VU's support? A support fund for Diamond Open Access will be set up in 2023. Contact the Open Access Team at openaccess@vu.nl.
