SeDOA Workshop: Financing Diamond Open Access in the Long run

by Helene Strauß, Bente Steinecke, Ronja Kuhlwilm & Juliane Finger

A workshop held online on 13 January 2026 by the DFG-funded Service Centre for Diamond Open Access (SeDOA) focused on the long-term financing of Diamond Open Access journals. The workshop was aimed at publishers, editorial teams and institutional players who implement Diamond Open Access in practice.

Straight into practice

After a brief introduction to the topic and insights into the results of the Bosman et al. 2021 study and the SeDOA 2025 survey, it quickly became clear that there is a high demand for concrete information on financing. According to Bosman et al. 2021, only around 40% of journals can cover their costs, 25% report losses and 31% stated that they had no idea about their financial situation.

As a consequence, the workshop focused on practical work. In small groups, the participants worked out the costs involved in running an academic journal – from editorial activities and technical infrastructure to ongoing organisational expenses. The initial cost plans drawn up on this basis can serve as a starting point for further work on individual projects.

The group work showed that preparing a full cost calculation for the operation of a journal is anything but trivial. Personnel costs in particular are often difficult to quantify, as tasks are integrated into job shares or so-called in-kind services are provided: individuals work on a voluntary basis or institutions provide infrastructure free of charge.

Overview of funding options

In the second part of the workshop, various models for financing Diamond Open Access were presented and discussed. These included consortium models such as OLEcon, membership models, institutional and external funding, as well as donation and sponsorship approaches, considering transparency and editorial independence. Voluntary author contributions were also classified as a possible option. In addition, helpful resources such as the Diamond Funding Navigator were presented. The workshop presentation is available on Zenodo (German language).

Exchange and orientation

In addition to providing technical input, the workshop also offered space for questions, exchange and networking. The discussions made it clear that there is no “one” solution for financing Diamond Open Access journals, but rather a variety of combinable approaches that can be adapted to different conditions.

Case studies on the transition to this business model can be found in the interview series “Ab jetzt Open Access” (“From now on Open Access”. The topic was also explored in greater depth in the workshop “Infrastrukturelle Rahmenbedingungen von Diamond-Open-Access-Journals” (“Infrastructural conditions for Diamond Open Access journals”) at the Open Access Days 2025. A report on this can be found at the Open Access library journal ‘O-Bib’ (German language).

SeDOA will continue to address the topics raised in the workshop and support stakeholders in the future with questions relating to the financing and sustainability of Diamond Open Access.

This might also interest you:

• Brinken, H., Rücknagel, J., Hauss, J., Rooryck, J., Paß, S., Witzmann, F., Waltman, L. & Beck, M. (2022). From Now on Open Access – How journals can change their business model. Technical Information Library (TIB), open-access.network. TIB AV-Portal.
• Bosman, J., Frantsvåg, J. E., Kramer, B., Langlais, P.-C., & Proudman, V. (2021). OA Diamond Journals Study. Part 1: Findings. Zenodo.
• Finger, J., Strauß, H., Steinecke, B., & Kuhlwilm, R. (2026, Januar 13). Praxisworkshop für Herausgebende – Auf dem Weg zu Diamond Open Access: Kosten planen, Finanzierung finden (Practical workshop for publishers – On the way to Diamond Open Access: Planning costs, finding funding). Zenodo.
• Maier, S., Bunge, E., Hermann, S., Oßwald, A., Rumler, J., Schulz, K. & Verch, U. (2025). Infrastrukturelle Rahmenbedingungen von Diamond-Open-Access-Journals (Infrastructural framework conditions of Diamond Open Access journals). Workshop on the occasion of the Open Access Days in Konstanz on 17 September 2025 (German language).
• Open Access Days 2025: Goal Achieved – or how can it (Ever) accomplished? ZBW Mediatalk.
• Organising and Financing Diamond Open Access: How can this be Achieved in Collaboration With Others? ZBW Mediatalk.
• Financing Diamond Open Access for Economics Sciences: How OLEcon Works. ZBW Mediatalk.