Diamond Open Access Publishing in the Library

Abstract

With developing guidance and policies around Open Access publishing, and with relatively high article and book processing charges from publishers, it is more important than ever for libraries to engage with Open Access publishing to provide support for their academics and students. It is even more important to be transparent about the process, so that we can foster an open community between libraries, providing viable alternative publishing solutions for the research community. Library publishing is a growing area, with more and more institutions now seeking ways to disrupt traditional publishing and support their staff and students through the power of Open Access. Edinburgh University Library has offered a Diamond Open Access journal hosting service for ten years, and recently launched a complimentary book hosting platform, bringing both services under the rebranded name of Edinburgh Diamond. Edinburgh Diamond is free of charge to Edinburgh staff and students, and enables them to publish journals, textbooks, monographs and edited collections with full library support in the areas of hosting (via open source software OJS & OMP), technical support, indexing, policy development, best-practice guidance, reporting and workflow training. Our service has grown and strengthened during the pandemic, with even more researchers looking online while physical libraries were closed. This growth hasn’t slowed now spaces are opening up again, and we are now actively growing our output. The rebranded service launched in October 2021 and we are keen to document and share our journey with the library community throughout the world.