CRAFT-OA Conference – “Crafting the Future of Diamond Open Access: Technical, Social & Political Perspectives of Scholarly Publishing”

Impressions from the Conference

This three-minute video offers an overview of the conference’s aims and captures its key moments and atmosphere.

Use the buttons below to access the conference materials.

About the Conference

Open Access (OA) publishing practices provide unrestricted access to research and are vital to scholarly communication today. In the Diamond Open Access (Diamond OA) publishing model, not only do readers have free access, but authors publish without fees, supported instead by universities, libraries, or research institutions that provide the technological infrastructure.

The CRAFT-OA project developed federated technologies and communities of practice to support Diamond OA journals in becoming more findable and accessible. Many existing publishing services fall short of the best practices for Diamond OA. CRAFT-OA addressed this by standardising solutions and building expertise among the community for a stronger, more collaborative institutional publishing landscape.  These solutions and the Diamond OA community will continue to grow and be strengthened through the European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH), officially launched in January 2025.

The CRAFT-OA conference, “Crafting the Future of Diamond Open Access: Technical, Social, and Political Perspectives of Scholarly Publishing,” marked the project’s final phase. It brought together project partners and the broader Diamond OA community to exchange ideas, reflect on achievements, and explore how to shape the future of federated Diamond OA publishing practices. 

Conference Timeline

General Information for Conference Participants

Program

The conference featured presentations and networking opportunities for the Diamond OA community as well as presentations of CRAFT-OA accomplishments throughout the program on Day 1 to Day 3. The expert panel discussion on Day 2 offered additional insights about technical aspects and developments for Diamond OA from multiple perspectives. All plenary and presentation sessions were streamed live and recorded for future viewing.

Registration and Costs

The event was free, but registration was mandatory.

Location

Conference address:

Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, Germany

Papendiek 14, 37073 Göttingen

Room: Alfred Hessel Hall

Dinner locations:

(all dinners were self-paid and optional)

Sunday: Duke Burger Göttingen, Mühlenstraße 4

Monday: Ristorante Fellini, Groner-Tor-Straße 28

Tuesday: Deutsches Theater Bistro, Theaterpl. 11

Wednesday (for CRAFT-OA consortium members only): amavi PURE, Güterbahnhofstraße 10

Call for Proposals

The call for proposals closed on June 15, 2025, but this information is left here to document our process.

CRAFT-OA’s activities and outcomes span technical, social, and policy dimensions. From data management to inclusive community practices and training, from infrastructure design to forward-thinking policies, we are connecting the grassroots work that sets the foundation for successful Diamond OA publishing.  

We invited contributions for 20-minute Talks and 5 to 7-minute “Poster Lightning Talks” related to challenges, best practices, and projects on one or more of the following three themes: Technical Frameworks, Community Empowerment, and Policy Concepts. For details on each of these themes, please visit our Call for Proposals page.

Planning your trip

Göttingen is a small university town in the heart of Germany, with train connections from several major airports. The downloadable documents below provided advice on the best way to travel to the conference and recommendations for hotels and restaurants.