In the transition towards Open Access(OA), institutional publishing is challenged by fragmentation and varying service quality, visibility, and sustainability. DIAMAS gathers 23 organisations from 12 European countries to address this issue, well-versed in OA academic publishing and scholarly communication. The project will:

1. Map the current landscape of Institutional Publishing Service Providers (IPSPs) in 25 countries of the ERA with special attention for IPSPs that do not charge fees for publishing or reading. This will yield a taxonomy of IPSPs and an IPSP landscape report, a basis for the rest of the project.

2. Coordinate and improve the efficiency and quality of IPSPs by developing a European Quality Standard for Institutional Publishing (EQSIP). This quality seal will professionalise, strengthen and reduce the fragmentation of institutional publishing in Europe. EQSIP will serve as a benchmark for a gap analysis of the data in (1). Buy-in and capacity-building are ensured by co-creation with the relevant IPSP communities of practice, creating a Common Access Point for IPSPs, an IPSP registry with 80% of IPSPs in the ERA, publishing guidelines, training materials, self-assessment tools, financial models, and shared cost frameworks. DIAMAS embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion by addressing gender equity in OA publishing and multilingualism in 15 European languages. Special attention is paid to building and enabling the financial sustainability of IPSPs.

3. Formulate community-led, actionable recommendations and strategies for institutional leaders, funders/sponsors/donors, and policymakers in the European Research Area (ERA). Workshops and targeted networking actions will reach and engage institutional decision-makers. In 36 months, DIAMAS will deliver an aligned, high-quality, and sustainable institutional OA scholarly publication ecosystem for the ERA, setting a new standard for OA publishing, shared and co-designed with all stakeholders.

LIBER’s Role

LIBER leads the communication and dissemination work package in DIAMAS. In this role, LIBER aims to make sure the outputs and outcomes from DIAMAS, reach the right audiences and live-up to their expected impact. LIBER manages a network of over 400 research libraries, in 40 countries, connecting stakeholders and networks, which gives a good footing to share knowledge between organisations within the scholarly communication landscape. Beyond this work package, LIBER actively participates in other aspects of the project such as helping to collect data, create training materials, and delivering the future knowledge hub.

[Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash]