9th Open Science Retreat: 23-24 September 2025.
“Diamond OA: Utopian Dream or the Only Fair Future?”
We cordially invite you to the 9th Open Science Retreat – this time with a focus on Diamond Open Access.
Diamond Open Access has gained increasing attention in recent years as a community-led, equitable model for scholarly publishing that aligns closely with the principles of Open Science. But is Diamond Open Access the long-awaited solution for equitable scholarly publishing – or merely an idealistic vision? This retreat critically explores the promises and limitations of Diamond OA, its role in advancing Open Science, and the role of the scientific community in the success of the model. A view on financing models and a spotlight on successful Diamond OA initiatives will provide practical insights into key success factors and persistent challenges.
To guide our discussions, we propose the following questions:
- What can the contribution of Diamond OA be to addressing current challenges in scholarly publishing and where does its potential end?
- What are effective strategies, recommendations, best practices or lessons-learnt to applying AI in a responsible manner for upholding the Open Science principles?
- What policy and infrastructure conditions are necessary to ensure Diamond OA can flourish?
Join us for a critical examination of whether Diamond OA is an innovative model or simply the next battleground in the future of publishing. We are looking forward to an exciting retreat – be part of it!
Programme
Day 1:
September 23, 2025, online
16:00-16:10 Welcome address (Dr Juliane Finger, ZBW)
16:10-16:35 Impulse statements from
- Dr Caroline Edwards, Executive Director of Open Library Humanities, UK
- Prof Arianna Becerril-García, Executive Director of Redalyc & Chair of AmeliCA, Mexico
16:35-16:50 Questions from the participants to the speakers & discussion in plenary
16:50-17:00 Short Break
17:00-17:15 Impulse statement from Dr. Ulrich Herb, OA expert at Saarland University and State Library & Coordinator of the Saarland Open Access Networking Office, Germany
17:15-17:40 Exchange and discussion in break-out groups: Opinion and experiences of the participants on the contents from the impulse statements
17:40-17:55 In plenary: short statement from every break-out group (feeding the insights back into the panel)
17:55-18:00 Outlook day 2
Day 2:
September 24, 2025, online
16:00-16:10 Welcome & wrap up day 1 (Dr Juliane Finger, ZBW)
16:10-16:15 Introduction of focus of day 2
16:15-17:00 Exchange and discussion in break-out groups
To guide our discussions, we propose the following questions:
- What can the contribution of Diamond OA be to addressing current challenges in scholarly publishing and where does its potential end?
- What are effective strategies, recommendations, and lessons learnt for implementing Diamond OA models in line with Open Science principles?
- What policy and infrastructure conditions are necessary to ensure Diamond OA can flourish?
17:00-17:10 Short Break
17:10-17:25 In plenary: short statement from every break-out group (feeding the insights back into the panel)
17:25-17:55 Plenary discussion
17:55-18:00 Farewell and outlook to upcoming Open Science Retreats
The deadline for application was 2 September 2025.
Our next Open Science Retreat:
OSR#10
[Topic tbd]
Date: 10 and 11 March 2026, 15:00-17:00 CET
More information will follow.
Are you interested in past retreats and their results? Check out the reviews here
ZBW Open Science Engagement
The ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (www.zbw.eu) presents its activities in Open Science: a triad of research, engagement and development for Open Science.
- The ZBW does research in the area of Open Science, in particular in computer and information science, in media science and digital economics.
It wants to strengthen the commercial independence of, and excellence in, the science system. The ZBW wants to enable easy and quick access to scientific findings, publications and data. - The ZBW is an active player in science policy, nationally and internationally, to implement Open Science.
- At the same time, the ZBW actively builds this Open Science ideal by developing and integrating new technologies that enable access and remove barriers.