After several decades of evolving, by the 2020s, Open Access (OA) publishing is at the centre of scientific communication, providing access to scientific publications without barriers. In Diamond Open Access, authors publish free of charge because the institutional sector — universities, research institutions, or libraries — provides the necessary technological infrastructure. While the commercial model of Open Access dominates in anglophone journals from the Global North, the Diamond OA model shows much greater diversity in origin. However, the Diamond OA landscape remains fragmented, underfunded, and not always technically proficient enough to realize its full potential for science and society. The CRAFT-OA project aimed to consolidate the Diamond OA publishing landscape.

The project focused on four threads of activities to improve the technical and organisational infrastructure of Diamond OA:

1. Provide technical improvements for journal platforms and journal software.
2. Build communities of practice to foster overall infrastructure improvement.
3. Increase visibility, discoverability, and recognition for Diamond OA publishing.
4. Integrate Diamond OA publishing with EOSC and other large-scale data aggregators.

CRAFT-OA’s 23 consortium partners from 14 European countries are all engaged in institutional publishing and its infrastructures, and committed to sustaining and developing capacities in the field. Many CRAFT-OA partners are leading organisations at national and European levels in open publishing and represent internationally visible centres of expertise in Open Science and FAIR implementation, with strong connections to EOSC.

Within 36 months, CRAFT-OA delivered technical and community tools, training events, training materials, information, and services for the Diamond OA institutional publishing environment. It fostered communities of practice with the capacity to sustain the project improvements over time. 

• UGOE, University of Göttingen, DE 
• OPERAS, the OPERAS Research Infrastructure, BE 
• TSV, the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, FI 
• MWS, the Max Weber Stiftung, DE 
• TIB, the Technische Informationsbibliothek, DE  
• SRCE, the University of Zagreb Computing Centre, HR 
• UC, the University of Coimbra, PT 
• MU, the Masaryk University, CZ 
• ZRC SAZU, the Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, SI 
• OpenAIRE AMKE, GR 
  • ARC, Athena Research Centre, GR (affiliated) 
  • CNR, National Research Council of Italy, IT (affiliated) 
• UBERN, the University Bern, CH (associated) 
• UNITO, the University Turin, IT 
• EGI, Stichting EGI, NL 
  • National Infrastructures for Research and Technology, GR (affiliated)
• the University of Zadar, HR 
• IBL PAN, Instytut Badan Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk, PL  
• Hamburg State and University Library (Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg), DE  
• UNIWARSAW, the University Warsaw, PL  
• AMU, the Aix-Marseille Université, FR  
• DOAJ, Infrastructure Services for Open Access C.I.C., UK
• ESF, the European Science Foundation, FR – acting for cOAlition S 

TIMELINE & FUNDING

Project duration:
1 January 2023 -31 December 2025 (36 months) 

Total funding:
€ 4 777 337,50