The BOAI Org and the National Council of Rectors of Costa Rica (CONARE) recently co-organized the third webinar in their series highlighting the need to protect the Latin American model of no-fee open access journals. The webinar featured stakeholders from the scholarly communication system discussing best practices for no-fee OA journals. The event was moderated by Arianna Becerril García and speakers included Barbara Rivera López, Silvia Arguello Vargas, Lúcia da Silveira, Paola Carolina and Iryna Kuchma. Simultaneous interpretation in Spanish, Portuguese and English was provided, and over 140 participants joined the discussion.
Arianna Becerril García, as Chair of the BOAI Org Steering Committee, opened the event and announced that the BOAI is moving away from using the term “diamond” to describe journals that do not charge authors to publish or readers to access journals. Instead, the organization will refer to these equitable models of open access as no-fee OA journals. The decision was based on long-held reservations by the Steering Committee that the term itself is contradictory to its stated goals, due to its exploitative connotations. It was also noted that the term was developed in the Global North, whereas many in Latin America have for decades referred to these journals as non comercial open access journals.
Barbara Rivera López, wearing two hats as a former in Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo de Chile in Chile, as well as her current role working with the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information, shared the Chilean Open Access Journal Grant Program. The grant program now prioritizes open licenses and gender parity. Rivera López recommended that governments should support structures rather than just projects and link funding with open science indicators. The critical role that the Barcelona Declaration is playing in setting best practices around metadata was also highlighted. Rivera López noted the Declaration developed a framework for essential metadata which aims to enhance visibility and interoperability, aligning with transparency, accessibility and inclusion.
Best practices from a university administrator’s perspective were shared by Silvia Arguello Vargas who provided an overview of the Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica model for designing, establishing, and protecting non-commercial OA journals, highlighting the university’s role in setting an example in Central America and the Caribbean. The university has developed a comprehensive model to support the 28 no-fee OA journals published by the university. Each department or faculty hires journal editors and interns for the journals published by their department. Arguello Vargas shared that the university works with the journals to develop six-year plans for each journal, which include specific objectives for open science, such as the development of open peer review and open research data. A key component of the six-year plans are biannual reviews of each journal by external experts. In addition to the direct funding each department provides for their journals, the university also supports a centralized publishing department which manages the journal infrastructure, translation of metadata, as well graphic design for the publications.
Lúcia da Silveira of the Universidade Estatal do Santa Catarina, Brasil shared best practices from a librarian and journal editor’s perspective. Her university has developed a journal portal supported by a technical team of three librarians as well as an administrator. The university recently adopted a new policy which incorporates editorial tasks within professors’ responsibilities, allowing them to dedicate up to 20 hours per week to this role. They also established criteria for admission, permanence, and discontinuity of journals, emphasizing the university’s responsibility in promoting and deciding when to remove a publication.
Best practices from a researcher’s/author’s perspective were shared by Paola Carolina Bongiovani of Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina. Bongiovani highlighted the Argentinian experience, noting that the university’s journal portal originated from the university’s open science policies starting in 2018. The focus was on identifying community needs, leading to the creation of a supportive network, including a WhatsApp group for editors to share experiences and resolve issues. The university supports the journals by funding anti-forgery software and DOIs, although Bongiovani highlighted the challenge of not yet being able to pay editors, as is done through the Costa Rican model. Bongiovani emphasized the importance of having a policy for journal discontinuity to maintain the quality and manage the proliferation of new journals. She underscored the similar challenges across Latin America regarding open, non-commercial access, emphasizing that while it is open, it is “not free” in terms of cost and effort to develop. Becerril García agreed that this spirit of community and collective problem-solving is an endemic and valuable paradigm in the Latin American region.
Sharing her experience as a community member developing best practices for no-fee OA journals in Africa, Iryna Kuchma of EIFL highlighted the many similarities between the African and Latin American discussions. She stressed that journals also function as communities and platforms for knowledge dissemination, capacity development and co-production of research. Kuchma detailed the policy brief the project is designing for institutional leaders and policymakers to advocate for no-fee open access publishing. The document outlines the challenges posed by commercial approaches, makes a case for equitable publishing, and highlights existing political support for the model. It stresses the strategic value of no-fee open access journals as assets that provide a venue for locally relevant research and preserve cultural heritage. Kuchma outlined specific actions institutions can take, such as raising awareness, enhancing recognition and rewards for editorial roles, and providing multi-year and collaborative funding mechanisms. The presentation concluded with a list of sustainability models used by no-fee journals, many of which use multiple sustainability streams to support their operations.
In discussion, the participants highlighted the essential role of “community” in the non-commercial OA model in the Global South.
Becerril García closed the event by inviting participants to join a Working Group to develop a resource to show institutional investment in the no-fee OA model to recognize those institutions that are supporting this equitable model and encourage others to do so.
To view a video of the event, please click here.