Mapping the Swiss Landscape of Diamond Open Access Journals. The PLATO Study on Scholar-Led Publishing. Report

Context
From March to September 2022, the «Platinum Open Access Funding» Project (PLATO), in collaboration with the Institute for Applied Data Science & Finance at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, undertook a bibliometric and empirical study of the Platinum/Diamond open access journal landscape in Switzerland. The PLATO project is an initiative of six Swiss universities – the University of Zurich, the University of Bern, the University of Geneva, the University of Neuchâtel, the Zurich University of the Arts and ETH Zurich –, dedicated to furthering community-led scholarly publishing in Switzerland. Diamond open access stands for a concept of equitable open access to and participation in scholarly publishing that is free for both authors and readers.

Presentation
The main objective of the PLATO Study was to gain insight into the Platinum/Diamond open access publishing ecosystem in Switzerland through a mixed-method approach. The study consisted of three parts: First, bibliometric data were combined with inputs from Swiss open access publishers, institutional open access experts as well as information on journal websites to identify Swiss Diamond Open Access journals and their main characteristics. Second, seven semi-structured interviews with editors of select Diamond Open Access journals were conducted to generate a thorough understanding of their workflows, infrastructures, business models, challenges and opportunities. Third, based on the inputs from the interviews, three surveys were designed and sent to authors/reviewers, editors, and representatives of hosting and funding institutions of Swiss Diamond OA journals.

The results of the study are published in the form of the following outputs:

• Report – DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7461728
• Bibliometric List – DOI: 10.34914/olos:l2tys6tie5f63h35lqpqzzlx24
• Data Set – DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7461754