Diamond ERA: From Vision to Implementation – A New Definition of Openness in the European Research Area

What if Europe’s next research framework could finally break science free from paywalls, profit-driven publishing, and foreign data dependence? On December 4, 2025, policymakers, researchers, and infrastructure builders gathered in Brussels to turn the vision of Diamond Open Access into a concrete political and legal reality. The conference Diamond ERA: Fostering Openness in the European Research Area, organized by the Digital Humanities Centre at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN) and the Polish Science Contact Agency (PolSCA PAN), in cooperation with the Committee on Literary Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the OPERAS research infrastructure, was held in the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the EU.

The timing of the event was not accidental. The conference took place during a heated period of negotiations on the assumptions of the next framework programme (FP10) and work on future legislation regarding the European Research Area (ERA Act). This convergence of dates created a unique opportunity (‘policy window’) to permanently embed the Diamond Open Access (Diamond OA) model into the legal foundations of European science. The goal of the meeting was therefore not merely to theorise about openness, but to develop concrete mechanisms that will make Diamond OA an inalienable element of the European scientific order.

Prelude: The Voice of Science in the European Parliament

The conference was preceded by a closed meeting at the European Parliament on 3rd December with Members of the EP from several committees for whom science policy is a key concern, including the Chair of the ITRE Committee, MEP Borys Budka (EPP), the Vice-Chair of the CULT Committee, MEP Bogdan Zdrojewski (EPP), as well as CULT Committee member MEP Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus (SD) and MEP Łukasz Kohut (EPP), who was substituting on the committee.

The organisers submitted a document to the decision-makers titled ‘Rebuilding Trust in Science through Equitable Publishing’, in which Open Science was defined as the foundation of the EU’s “fifth freedom” – the free movement of knowledge, and the assumptions of Diamond OA were presented. In conversations with politicians, experts went beyond standard argumentation, putting hard economic and geopolitical arguments on the table.

First, they pointed to the issue of equality (Equitable Publishing). Representatives of science strongly contrasted the diamond model with the commercial one, in which high publication fees (APC, Article Processing Charge), reaching even 9000 euros per article, create an insurmountable barrier for many researchers and scientific institutions. It was argued that such a system merely shifts the necessity of paying for access from the reader to the author, which is a waste of public funds. Diamond OA was presented as an alternative guaranteeing that taxpayers’ money finances research and the infrastructures disseminating it, rather than the margins of commercial publishers.

Second, the critical thread of data sovereignty was raised. Experts brought attention to Europe’s unfavourable dependence on foreign infrastructure – key scientific data is stored on global servers, outside EU jurisdiction. It was emphasised that supporting public diamond infrastructure is a matter of strategic security: it allows the Union to retain control over its own intellectual resources, which are necessary, among other things, to train European artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Third, reference was made to trust in science. Experts argued that commercial oligopolies, focused on profit and publication volume, create incentives that may threaten scientific integrity (e.g., the “paper mills” phenomenon). The diamond model, managed by the academic community, restores control over substantive quality to public institutions.

Furthermore, during the meeting with MEP Kohut and the advisory team of MEP Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz (EPP), issues of multilingualism and strengthening democracy in Europe through science were discussed.

Diamond ERA Conference: Stakeholder Meeting in Brussels

The conference took place at the seat of the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union – a place of particular political significance, highlighting Poland’s active role in the European debate on the future of science and open research communication.

Participants were welcomed on behalf of the organisers by Tomasz Poprawka, Director of the PolSCA PAN Office in Brussels, Maciej Maryl, Head of the Digital Humanities Centre at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN), and Suzanne Dumouchel, Director of International Cooperation at CNRS and OPERAS Coordinator. In their opening speeches, they emphasised the importance of cooperation between national and European institutions and the role of public research infrastructures as the foundation of a lasting and open scientific communication ecosystem in Europe.

Session 1: Political Consensus Around Open Science

The substantive part of the conference on December 4 was opened by a session dedicated to science policy, in which a rarely seen consensus between different levels of management resonated. The voice of the institutions was consistent and decisive.

Victoria Tsoukala from the European Commission confirmed that the priority of the ERA Agenda for 2025–2027 is “equity in open science”. She explained that for the Commission, this is not just a slogan, but a concrete program of actions including: inventorying challenges related to inequalities, direct support for non-profit publishing services, and providing common tools and training to increase competence in open science. All of this is to lead to the development of coherent recommendations for EU policy. Tsoukala also announced a breakthrough change: the Open Research Europe (ORE) platform will become an infrastructure collectively managed by research institutions by 2026, becoming independent of commercial providers.

In turn, Bregt Saenen (Science Europe) pointed to an unprecedented political consensus, reinforced during global Diamond OA summits. He emphasised the necessity of a fundamental change in the funding paradigm: grant providers should move away from the model of paying for individual publications in favour of systemic investment in durable and stable publishing ecosystems. This perspective was complemented by Ana Ranitovic (University of Groningen), arguing that universities must regain digital autonomy and the role of knowledge managers, which is particularly important in times of disinformation and the crisis of trust in scientific knowledge, which, however, requires legislative support at the EU level (ERA Act).

Session 2: Practical Implementations – Many Paths to Openness

This part of the conference showed that the diamond model works effectively on various scales and formats.

First to speak was Agnieszka Wiktor-Sass from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, presenting the PRESSto platform. This is an example of a thriving institutional diamond open access platform: a central university team takes over technical, legal, and training support for nearly 100 journals. Thanks to support and training (e.g., in SEO or COPE ethics), editorial boards can focus on content, having professional backing ensured.

Lucy Barnes from Open Book Publishers (OBP) presented a publishing model for diamond monographs, emphasising: “Books are not journals – let’s not throw them into the same bag.” OBP, operating since 2008, proves that monographs can be open without embargoes and fees for authors. The key is a mixed funding model, consisting of grants, voluntary donations, sales of printed versions, and an innovative library membership program (over 270 libraries paying an annual fee). Such diversification of revenue sources ensures the publisher’s resilience to market fluctuations.

Caroline Edwards from the Open Library of Humanities (OLH) focused on scaling initiatives led by researchers (scholar-led). Edwards referred to the metaphor used earlier by Johan Rooryck of a public park – a space accessible to everyone but requiring public expenditure for maintenance. OLH operates as a consortium funded by libraries, which allows for the transformation (flipping) of journals from a subscription model to an open one. Her presentation showed how to build independent, mass publishing structures that remain academic property.

A technological perspective was introduced by Tomasz Umerle from the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Centre and OPERAS Innovation Lab. He pointed out that modern humanities require powerful computing power (HPC) and the adaptation of artificial intelligence, so as to provide users with innovative services based on open content (such as chatbots). PSNC integrates local solutions with international standards, building the technological sovereignty necessary for initiatives like PRESSto or OBP to compete in the digital world.

Session 3: How to Maintain It? Support and Sustainable Development

The last session was dedicated to structures intended to ensure the durability of the diamond model.

The discussion was opened by Johan Rooryck, who outlined a vision of systemic support for diamond publications in Europe through the OPERAS program he co-coordinates, under the name European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH). The key pillars of this initiative are: the Diamond Open Access Standard (DOAS), serving to ensure quality and publishing standards, and the Diamas Toolsuite – a competence center offering specialized training for editorial boards. The ecosystem will be complemented by the Diamond Discovery Hub – a tool aimed at increasing the visibility and findability (discovery) of European diamond journals. The key to success is to be National Capacity Centres (NCC), creating a support network throughout Europe (in Poland, the role of the competence centre will be taken over by the national node of the OPERAS infrastructure – OPERAS-PL). Rooryck emphasised the importance of standards (including the Diamond Open Access Standard – DOAS) and training, which will allow smaller publishers to operate at the highest level.

During the panel discussion following Rooryck’s speech, Suzanne Dumouchel (OPERAS/EOSC) explained that the stability of the European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH) relies on three pillars: the OPERAS research infrastructure (as an ESFRI project), integration with the EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) federation, and a special task force on financing. Such a construction is to guarantee that EDCH will not be a one-off project, but a permanent element of the European scientific landscape.

A concrete example of implementing this vision at the national level was presented by Michael Kaiser from the Max Weber Stiftung, discussing the SeDOA (Service Centre for Diamond OA) project. This is the German equivalent of a competence center, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). SeDOA operates as a decentralized network of 15 institutions, offering a single access point for publishing services. Kaiser discussed specific tools that SeDOA is developing: from a glossary and journal registry, through “Drehscheibe” (distribution hub), to innovative “Ideathons” organized jointly with OPERAS.

The event was closed by a speech by Maciej Zdanowicz, who connected the threads of the conference with the broader political context of the Inspiring Era project. Referring to earlier workshops in Warsaw, Zdanowicz pointed to the necessity of creating “peer-learning” networks between member states. He announced the publication of a report and policy recommendations that will go directly to the European Commission, closing the loop between practitioners and lawmakers.

Summary

The conference was closed by a summary session, in which the strong voice of Polish science diplomacy resonated. Magdalena Kula, attaché for research at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union, shared the behind-the-scenes of the negotiations currently underway in Brussels. She indicated that EU corridors are currently dominated by keywords (buzzwords) such as artificial intelligence, which should be created by scientists and for scientists, and the “fifth freedom”, the definition of which is still being worked out. She also drew attention to definitional challenges – the current understanding of research and technological infrastructure in EU documents can be too narrow, and issues of data access and stability are gaining importance.

However, the key moment of her speech was the declaration regarding the Polish strategy. Kula emphasised that for Poland, Diamond OA is a way to secure scientific communication for native researchers. Moreover, she confirmed the Ministry’s readiness to begin negotiations on hosting the OPERAS infrastructure in Poland, which would constitute a historic step in the development of Polish science.

The whole event was tied together by Maciej Maryl (IBL PAN), reminding us in his closing remarks that the foundation of any technological or financial change in science must be the reform of the evaluation of the quality of scientific activity. Without it, even the best tools and political declarations will not permanently change the habits of the academic environment.