Kiel/Hamburg, 12 September 2023: The ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics establishes a consortium to provide stable and sustainable support for scholar-led Diamond Open Access journals in economics. Subsidised by grants from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the three- year project “OLEcon Konsort” will professionalise the field of scholar-led publishing and improve the dissemination of research findings in the field.

Scholar-led Diamond Open Access describes a form of academic publishing where scholarly editors own the rights to journals, not commercial publishers. Publishing in, as well as access to, such journals is possible without fees. The costs of publication are borne by a funding consortium of academic libraries. The concept is seen as innovative and sensible, since it improves unrestricted access to research.

Hoewever, scholar-led Diamond Open Access has not yet become mainstream. The challenge therefore is to establish this model and to maintain it stably and sustainably.

The ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics now addresses this challenge proactively and establishes a consortium which concentrates on funding scholar-led Diamond Open Access journals for economics jointly. The project “OLEcon Konsort” is part of the Open Library Economics (OLEcon) and funded by the BMBF. It is scheduled to run for three years and aims to professionalise scholar-led publishing in economics.

Thorsten Meyer, ZBW library director: “We have many years of experience with library consortia, and the positive feedback from starting Open Library Economics confirms us in our belief that building a stable and reliable consortium marks the next logical step in fostering open and transparent scholarly communication in economic research. The consortium represents a milestone in the further development of this important publishing model.”

The consortium “OLEcon Konsort” collaborates with various partners from academia and business to develop and implement best practices for scholar-led publishing.

The project addresses the library community through various events and information materials to win their financial support, and also the research community who play an active role in their journals as editors, members of editorial boards and authors and who are important stakeholders for the expansion of financing within the framework of a consortial model.

More information:
Open Library Economics