Plan S seeks study of ‘diamond’ publishing models

Study should identify challenges and way forward for non-commercial, zero-fee publishing

The group of funders behind Plan S, the radical open-access publishing initiative, has issued a call for a study of collaborative non-commercial journals and publishing platforms, known as the ‘diamond’ scholarly publishing model.

“The objective is to identify ways to support publishing initiatives wishing to implement diamond business models,” the Coalition S group of funders said in their announcement on 27 March. In these models, publishing costs are usually covered by funders or institutions through block payments, rather than by individual author fees on a per-article basis.