Focus : quelles perspectives pour l’accès ouvert diamant? (What prospects for open diamond access?) | L'Édition Èlectronique Ouverte

French original,

Le Sommet mondial sur l’accès ouvert diamant a eu lieu du 23 au 27 octobre 2023 à Toluca (Mexique). L’objectif était de rassembler la communauté autour de la publication scientifique « diamant » pour créer un dialogue entre éditeurs, institutions, experts et parties prenantes de tous les continents lors d’événements hybrides et multilingues organisés par plusieurs organisations dont l’ANR, la cOAlition S, OPERAS et Science Europe. Pierre Mounier, directeur adjoint et responsable du secteur International d’OpenEdition, coordinateur du projet d’infrastructure européenne OPERAS, revient sur les conclusions de ce sommet et l’implication d’OpenEdition dans la promotion et la mise en œuvre de la voie diamant et la structuration de la communauté diamant nationale.

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Automated English translation via deepl.com

The World Summit on Diamond Open Access was held from 23 to 27 October 2023 in Toluca, Mexico. The aim was to bring the community together around the science publication “diamond” to create a dialogue between publishers, institutions, experts and stakeholders from all continents at hybrid and multilingual events organised by several organisations including ANR, COAlition S, OPERAS and Science Europe. Pierre Mounier, Deputy Director and Head of the International OpenEdition Sector, coordinator of the European infrastructure project OPERAS, discusses the conclusions of this summit and the involvement of OpenEdition in the promotion and implementation of the diamond track and the structuring of the national diamond community.

• The conclusions of the World Summit on Open Diamond Access tell us that the implementation of the diamond track can be quite different in different countries or regions of the world. Apart from Latin America, where the event took place, France was the country most represented at the summit. Are there any French specificities in terms of the economic model? What are the differences compared to other countries?

France is characterised by its ability to organize itself around infrastructures that allow support for diamond open access publishing models. OpenEdition is a striking example, of course, but not only. In Toluca, the Métopes infrastructure was also well represented and active (it also sealed an agreement with Erudit and Redalyc for joint work on the XML JATS format), as well as Episciences, a publishing platform run by the CCSD. There were also representatives of Mirabel and the Medici network who played an important role. So, while France is not the only country where the diamond model is well supported, far from it, it still has the capacity to “think infrastructure” in an early and central way to support its academic presses and its rich ecosystem of actors engaged in this way of publishing. There may be several reasons for this particularity. It would be too long to unfold them here, I think. But let us remember that “infrastructure” is a French word at the origin, and that is still being felt today.

• What problems have emerged for French publishers and infrastructure such as OpenEdition?

The major challenge of the diamond open access model is to break out of a situation of dispersion and fragmentation highlighted by the Open Access Diamond Journal Study (OADJS). Of course, France is already in a much better position compared to this thanks to its network of infrastructures and platforms organised at national level in conjunction with the roadmap of research infrastructures, which is also a feature in the international landscape. I am thinking, moreover, but it is a very personal reflection, that OpenEdition, because of its age and the critical mass it represents, has a particular role to play in this national structuring in good understanding with its partners and the other infrastructures that make up the national landscape.

Now, if we take a step back, we quickly realize that there is a challenge for OpenEdition – as for all French players – a challenge for cooperation at European and international level that is not easy to set to music. There is already so much to be done in France that for many of us it is very difficult to invest time, energy and resources in cooperation that are inherently complex and uncertain, beyond our borders. However, this is absolutely necessary, because the landscape of scientific publication, including in the humanities and social sciences, is subject to lines of force that transcend national borders from afar. There is therefore a challenge of structuring at European and international level for the open access community, in particular to give it greater visibility, pooling resources, increasing its capacity, and French players must take their full place in this movement.

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