Diamond open access landscape and the Beilstein-Institutinitiatives toward open science
Barbara Hissa(1) and Gerhard Wilde(2)

Abstract According to the UNESCO’s definition, “open science is a set of principles and practices that aim to make scientific research from all fields accessible to everyone for the benefits of scientists and society as a whole. Open science is about making sure not only that scientific knowledge is accessible but also that the production of that knowledge itself is inclusive, equitable and sustainable.” Open science encompasses practices such as open access, open data, open methods, open-source software, open peer review, citizen science, and open educational resources, all aimed at increasing the accessibility, reproducibility, collaboration and unrestricted access to information. Within the realm of open science, open access is an important component, focusing specifically on the unrestricted online availability of scholarly publications aiming toward broad dissemination of scientific outputs. Open access has evolved through several publishing routes, most notably the green, gold, hybrid, and diamond models. Diamond open access (DOA) plays a pivotal role within this landscape by providing immediate access to the publication for the readers without charging any fees to authors or their institutions – which can be exorbitant in the case of gold open access routes or institutional publishing agreements. DOA journals are often financed and operated directly by academic institutions, university libraries, research organizations and various scholarly led communities. Our talk will give an overview of how open access evolved through time, the inequalities generated throughout the process and why DOA is the fairest and most sustainable among all the available routes. It decouples scholarly communication from commercial publishing incentives, strengthening community-led governance and aligning publication practices with the principles of openness, academic sovereignty, inclusion and diversity. We will also emphasize the activities of the Beilstein-Institut, a true nonprofit charitable foundation founded 75 years ago by the Max Planck society. Our mission is to support the advancement of chemical and related sciences with a focus on the dissemination of chemical information and helping researchers to communicate their work. The Beilstein-Institut supports open science principles which are woven into all of our projects mainly focused on nanotechnology, organic chemistry and biochemistry. We hope that by the end of our talk we are able to raise awareness regarding inequalities in the open access movement, spark the audience’s interest in supporting diamond open access initiatives, and inform them about the open science initiatives supported by the Beilstein-Institut.