Funding

Abstract

The individual needs and options available for funding Diamond open access publishers are to a large extent influenced by contextual factors. Publishing services should be able to find a suitable and sustainable mix of funding sources that can be publicly disclosed and do not interfere with editorial decision-making. Recording the research funding information of published content in a structured way is an important dimension both for research integrity and compliance with funder requirements.

Main Text

A publishing model based on subscription provides a funding mechanism for most publishing organisations where access to journal content is conditional on paying a subscription or a read-and-publish agreement. Similarly, Gold OA publishers rely on income generated by Article Processing Charges (APCs) directed at the author, organisation or funder. Organisations engaging in Diamond OA publishing lack such a convenient funding mechanism, since access to the journals is not conditional on any fees for authors or readers. Diamond OA publications are often funded through a mix of various revenue streams for sustaining their operations, and direct monetary funding is used in combination with in-kind support (Bosman et al., 2021). Any funding available and viable for financing publication activities in one organisation might not be so for another. This highlights the need for a thorough mapping of resource needs and available options. Earlier projects have identified some of the available funding mechanisms and cost-cutting strategies that are relevant on the level of individual journals (Wise & Estelle, 2019) but the available knowledge at the organisational level is still very limited.

Diamond OA publishers are strongly dependent on their country of operation, the availability of existing technical infrastructure at their home institutions, and organisational factors. The public funding mechanisms available for publishing organisations in Europe vary considerably (Laakso & Multas, 2023). Many countries around the world have national or regional publication portals that provide the option of low or no-cost publishing from a purely technical perspective. This lowers the need to obtain additional funding for setting up and maintaining a Diamond OA publisher’s technical environment. Where applicable, the relationship between Diamond OA publication outlets and their host institutions is crucial, since that is often a channel for funding (monetary and or in-kind) and other supporting resources.

Principles of transparency

Transparency on funding applies to the way the Diamond OA publishing service is funded, as well as to the funding information of scholarly publications published by that service.

A Diamond OA publisher should have a clearly stated policy that covers the implemented business model and compliance with funder and/or institutional or national OA policies (if applicable). Independently of the variety of funding streams, it is important that such information be declared on the website of the Diamond OA publishing services, as well as on the information pages of individual Diamond OA journals, to increase the financial transparency of the operations. 

Transparency about the types of revenue streams and their destination should be provided. These may include donations, time-limited funds, Voluntary Author Contributions (VAC), or ongoing institutional support. If a Diamond OA publisher is open to external funding, explicit policies for accepting such funding should be provided. Editorial operations should be independent and free from influence from the bodies that financially support the publisher and its journals. If the Diamond OA publisher wishes to run advertising, there should be formal written policies for such advertising in both print and digital versions.

When it comes to managing the funding information relating to published research, consistent workflows should allow authors, editors and reviewers to disclose financial conflicts of interest (in the conflict of interest statement and the metadata) and openly state all sources of funding (in the funding acknowledgements/statements and the metadata). 

Long term vision

It is recommended that Diamond OA publishers have a sustainability plan, i.e. a strategy for the medium-term economic viability, described on the website that also describes OA sustainability via cooperative work schemes and costs shared across actors. In terms of long-term stability, some of the most desirable funding is financial support from academic institutions and public organisations such as ministries or research funding agencies that have either performing research or funding it as their goal. Contributions should not be tied to individual outputs or groups of authors.
 

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References

• Bosman, J., Frantsvåg, J. E., Kramer, B., Langlais, P.-C., & Proudman, V. (2021). OA Diamond Journals Study. Part 1: Findings. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4558704
• Laakso, M., & Multas, A-M. (2023). European scholarly journals from small- and mid-size publishers: mapping journals and public funding mechanisms, Science and Public Policy, 50 (3): 445–456, https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scac081
• Wise, A., & Estelle, L. (2019). Society publishers accelerating open access and Plan S: final project report (Version 1). Wellcome Trust. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9805007.v1

Further Reading

• Barnes, L. & van Schalkwyk, F. (2023) Business Models for Open Access Books. https://oabooksbusinessmodels.pubpub.org/
• Chiarelli, A., Wojturska, R., Lujano, I., Foxall, K. (2023). Kick-off funding. Open Access Journals Toolkit. https://www.oajournals-toolkit.org/getting-started/kick-off-funding
• Chiarelli, A., Murray, S., Lujano, I. (2023). The costs of running an online open access journal.  Open Access Journals Toolkit. https://www.oajournals-toolkit.org/running-a-journal/the-costs-of-running-an-online-open-access-journal
• Crow, R. (2009). Income models for open access: an overview of current practice. SPARC. https://sparcopen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/incomemodels_v1.pdf
• Deville, J. (2023). Beyond BPCs: reimagining and r. e-infrastructuring the funding of open access books. COPIM. https://copim.pubpub.org/pub/beyond-bpcs-reimagining-and-re-infrastructuring-the-funding-of-open-access-books/release/1
• Dufour, Q., Pontille, D., Torny, D. (2023). What direct support is available for open-access Diamond journals? Funding models and arrangements for implementation. Comité pour la science ouverte. https://doi.org/10.52949/35
• Fadeeva, Y., & Graf, D. (2023). AuROA service catalog for scientific open access publications. Transparent listing of tasks for book publications. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7716251
• Gerakopoulou, E., Penier, I., & Deville, J. (2021). The promise of collaboration: collective funding models and the integration of open access books into libraries (1.1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4756894
• OAPEN. (2024). ‘Business models for open access book publishing’. Open Access Books Toolkit: https://oabooks-toolkit.org/lifecycle/10944589-planning-funding/article/10432084-business-models-for-open-access-book-publishing
• Penier, I., Eve, M. P., & Grady, T. (2020). COPIM – revenue models for open access monographs 2020 (2.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4455511
• SPARC Europe. (n.d.). Alternative publishing models to support open access.  https://sparcopen.org/our-work/alternative-publishing-models/

Licensing

This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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