Open access without publication fees is also called Diamond Open Access. With Diamond Open Access, there are no fees for readers.
The journals are financed by alternative forms of financing, such as sponsorship, institutional financing or library consortia.
The ZBW itself publishes three journals in Diamond Open Access:
OLEcon
The Open Library Economics (OLEcon) is an initiative of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
OLEcon promotes non-commercial Diamond Open Access for journals in economics. This is also known as scholar-led or research-led Open Access. It means that the rights to the journal title and thus the decision-making authority over all matters concerning the journals lies with the editors. In some cases, a commercial publisher owns the rights to the journal title. OLEcon supports editors in negotiations to regain these title rights.
The sustainable financing of this model is ensured by building a library consortium.
OLEKonsort
The focus of the BMBF-funded OLEKonsort project is to establish a stable financing consortium for Diamond Open Access. The aim of the OLEKonsort project is to establish a stable and sustainable consortium for the joint financing of the OLEcon journals. With this project, the ZBW aims to promote the professionalisation of consortium-organised financing of science-driven publications.
The consortium for the financing of an economics journal package is stabilised by several mechanisms. Firstly, the comprehensive participation of financing institutions; secondly, a concept for community building and management; thirdly, the project envisages the involvement of users of the journal package, such as editors or members of the editorial board. Fourthly, the ZBW is developing a monitoring system that can be used to measure the success of the consortium.
Open Access for monograph series
The ZBW engages for more Open Access in book publishing. It negotiates agreements for the Open Access Transformation of relevant monograph series.
In a pilot project of the ZBW, the academic publisher Duncker & Humblot and the German Economic Association (Verein für Socialpolitik) converted the series “Schriften des Vereins für Socialpolitik (SVS)” to a Diamond Open Access model. Thanks to the ZBW’s support there are no book processing charges for authors in this model.
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