Tending community-led Diamond OA ecologies for books: a rewilding of the open access landscape as a commons
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In this presentation, we set out part of the historical context of scholarly knowledges’ commodification within the last 20 years, specifically in the sphere of open access, while trying to develop better localised understandings for all participants. The apparent paradox of openness as a commodifying force is a crucial and under-interrogated aspect of the open access discourse, specifically in relation to the financial models that underpin open access publishing. However, open access funding is by no means a monolith; there are a range of economic models and mechanisms that support it. We will discuss this in the global context of open access books, with localised case studies -- including in Germany -- with a view to developing these case studies into a mapping exercise for contemporary German open access book publishing. We also consider the efficacies of open access mandates and policies that have been implemented by research funders and research organisations. Such policies have demonstrably supported a quantitative growth in open access, but the growth of more equitable, collective funding models, such as those operated by Opening the Future and Open Book Collective, have been developed and flourish independently from the majority of open access policies, while achieving similar ends. We wish to actively engage with colleagues in Germany to better understand the local contexts surrounding open access book publishing in Germany. With wider political and economic support from global communities, the propagation of a more equitable, sustainable and bibliodiverse open access future is perceivable. The open infrastructuring of our collective landscape and its nurturing through mutual support can enable diamond OA publishing to flourish as a sustainability of the environment that is maintained by its communities.
Authors: Hopkins, Kira, Sanders, Kevin
Institutions: Birkbeck, University of London, Open Book Collective
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7082291649
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