The Diamond OA Policy Forum
ALMASI brings together the unique new Diamond OA Policy Forum of international, national, and local policymakers and funders in three regions that the ALMASI project addresses: Africa, Europe and Latin America. This forum is a place for participants to discuss nonprofit scholarly publishing policy and funding needs, progress, and related challenges. The Forum will also include international funders supporting development work. Sharing expertise on developing policy recommendations and funding mechanisms internationally is key to supporting more equitable, diverse, and community-led Diamond OA scholarly publishing internationally. In a series of events, we aim to share, discuss and develop policy recommendations and funding mechanisms that work in various contexts to support more equitable, diverse, and community-led scholarly publishing internationally on a cross-regional and regional levels (Africa, Europe and Latin America).
Forthcoming events
From September to November 2026, the regional Diamond OA Policy Fora will focus on funding Diamond OA, showcasing the strategic funding approaches taken by national policymakers, research funders, universities, and libraries across the three regions, while also highlighting initiatives or models that make funding Diamond OA easier, and allowing enough time for discussion. Then, the cross-regional event will build on these regional conversations, drawing together insights from Africa, Europe and Latin America region to develop a broader international understanding of the challenges and opportunities in funding Diamond OA. We invite policymakers, funders, and open access practitioners to join these conversations.
- AFRICA
Thursday 17th September at 1:00 pm (GMT) / 3:00 pm SAST / 4:00 pm EAT
Duration: 2 hours
Short description and programme:
The Diamond OA Policy Forum Africa will focus on funding Diamond OA in Africa, showcasing the strategic funding approaches taken by research funders and universities in the region. We will also showcase the types of initiatives and models that make funding Diamond OA easier, and there will be time for discussion.
Speakers:
- Dr Philbert Luhunga, Director of Knowledge Management at COSTECH: Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, Tanzania
- Roger Tsafack-Nanfosso, CRUFAOCI, Université de Tschang Cameroun, Cameroon
- Sara Medjoubi, Université Internationale de Rabat, Global Africa, Morocco
- Mebratu Mulatu, Hawassa University, Ethiopia
- Susan Murray, African Journals Online (AJOL), South Africa
The meeting will be in English and breakout room discussions will be held in English and French.
- LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Friday 25th September at 9:00 am (UTC-6) Mexico City
Short description and programme:
The Second Diamond Open Access Policy Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean will focus on examining the role of governments, institutions, funding agencies, and infrastructures in developing sustainability policies and strategies that facilitate non-commercial open access publishing in Latin America.
Speakers:
- Arianna Becerril García, Redalyc-UAEM/AmeliCA (Chair)
- Gubisha Ruiz Morán, UAM, México
- Fernando Ariel López, UMET, Argentina
- Ricardo Casate Fernández, CITMA, Cuba
- Carolina de Volder, CAICYT-CONICET, Argentina
- Violeta Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado, Secihti, México
- Pablo Vommaro, CLACSO
- Rosalie Lack, SCOSS
The meeting will be held in English and Spanish.
- EUROPE
Monday 5th October at 16:00 CEST
Short description and programme:
The second meeting of the European Forum will focus on funding Diamond OA in this region, showcasing the strategic funding approaches taken by European national Open Science policymakers, research funders and libraries in the region. We will also showcase the types of initiatives or models that make funding Diamond OA easier, and there will be time for discussion.
Speakers:
- Maja Peharc, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Slovenia
- Louise Otting-Geevers, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
- Jean-François Lutz, Université de Lorraine, France
- Zoé Ancion, French National Research Agency, France
- Rosalie Lack, Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS)
- Fabian Hennig, KOALA (Konsortiale Open-Access-Lösungen aufbauen)
The meeting will be held in English.
- CROSS-REGIONAL
Thursday 5th November, at 16:00 CET
Short description and programme:
Following a series of regional meetings held in September and October 2026 in Africa, Europe, and Latin America with a special focus on funding Diamond OA, the third cross-regional Diamond OA Policy Forum (Africa–Europe–Latin America) will build upon these regional conversations and seek cross-regional perspectives on the topic drawing together insights from each region to develop a broader, cross-regional understanding of the challenges and opportunities in funding Diamond OA.
Past events
Diamond OA Policy Forum – Cross-regional
More information
National policymakers:
- Bianca Amaro (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Brazil),
- Michelle Doran (National Open Research Forum, Ireland), and
- Steven Sebbale (Uganda National Council for Science and Technology)
Institutional policymakers:
- Francisco Alarcón (Consejo Superior Universitario Centroamericano),
- Nicolas Fressengeas (Université de Lorraine, France)
- Birgit Schreiber (Southern African Regional Universities Association),
ALMASI partners:
- Arianna Becerril García (Redalyc, AmeliCA, Autonomous University of the State of Mexico),
- Susan Murray (African Journals Online),
- Vanessa Proudman (SPARC Europe)
- Johan Rooryck (OPERAS)
and Victoria Tsoukala, representing the European Commission, which funds ALMASI.
#2 DOAPF – Cross-regional | 30th March 2026
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Following a series of regional meetings held in March 2026 in Africa, Latin America, and Europe, this second cross-regional Diamond OA Policy Forum (Africa–Europe–Latin America) will connect these conversations. It will open with brief highlights from the recent regional meetings, with each region sharing key insights and emerging priorities. Building on these reflections, we will explore commonalities and policy synergies, before examining Diamond OA policy excerpts collaboratively.
The meeting will be held in French/English/Portuguese/Spanish
#1 – Diamond OA Policy Forum – Africa
>>> Africa – English discussions | 3rd March 2026
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First regional Diamond OA Policy Forum – Africa in English.
This forum discussed findings from the Scoping Report on Non-for-profit Publishing Ecosystems, and the Landscape Report on Diamond OA Publishing in Africa, Europe, and Latin America, advocacy materials for Diamond OA publishing, national and institutional approaches to Diamond OA publishing and policymaking processes and challenges.
Speakers:
- Susan Veldsman, Academy of Science of South Africa
- Iryna Kuchma, EIFL
- Susan Murray, AJOL, South Africa
- Lighton Phiri, University of Zambia
- Milica Ševkušić, EIFL
>>> Africa – French discussions | 5th March 2026
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First regional Diamond OA Policy Forum – Africa in French.
This forum discussed findings from the Scoping Report on Non-for-profit Publishing Ecosystems, and the Landscape Report on Diamond OA Publishing in Africa, Europe, and Latin America, advocacy materials for Diamond OA publishing, national and institutional approaches to Diamond OA publishing and policymaking processes and challenges.
Speakers:
- Hugo Catherine, IRD, France
- Bernard Dione, CNDST/MESRI – Senegal
- Fadoua El Maguiri, CNRST/MESR – Morocco
- Roger Tsafack-Nanfosso, CRUFAOCI, Université de Tschang Cameroun, Cameroon
>>> Africa – Portuguese discussions | 11th March 2026
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First regional Diamond OA Policy Forum – Africa in Portuguese.
This forum discussed findings from the Scoping Report on Non-for-profit Publishing Ecosystems, and the Landscape Report on Diamond OA Publishing in Africa, Europe, and Latin America, advocacy materials for Diamond OA publishing, national and institutional approaches to Diamond OA publishing and policymaking processes and challenges.
Speakers:
- Pascal Aventurier, IRD, France
- Eurico Gungula, Universidade Óscar Ribas, Angola
- João Baptista Machado Sousa, Associação Multidisciplinar de Investigação Científica, Angola
- Horacio Zimba, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique
#1 – Diamond OA Policy Forum – Europe
>>> Europe – discussions in English | 9th March 2026
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This session includes presentations of key findings from recent reports on non-profit publishing ecosystems and the Diamond OA publishing landscape. It will then provide expert perspectives on national and institutional policy developments, followed by interactive breakout discussions focused on advancing Diamond OA national and institutional policies in practice.
Speakers:
- Pilar Rico Castro, Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), Spain
- Marie-Emilia Herbet, Université Jean-Moulin Lyon 3, France
- Mikael Laakso, Tampere University, Finland
- Thomas Liebundgut, swissuniversities, Switzerland
#1 – Diamond OA Policy Forum- Latin America
>>> Latin America – discussions in Spanish and Portuguese | 20 mars 2026
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This bilingual forum (Spanish and Portuguese) brings together key regional experts to discuss the landscape of Open Science and Open Access across Latin America and the Caribbean. This initiative stems from the ALMASI Project, which connects national, regional, and institutional policymakers from Africa, Latin America, and Europe. The session will focus specifically on showcasing successful national and institutional models before transitioning into breakout groups for collaborative discussion and the development of a regional proposal. We invite all those committed to advancing sustainable policy and funding frameworks for Diamond OA to join us in developing this regional proposal.
Speakers:
- Andrea Mora-Campos, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica
- Arianna Becerril-García, Sistema de Información Científica Redalyc-Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, México / AmeliCA Ciencia Abierta para el Bien Común
- André Luiz-Appel, Instituto Brasileño de Información en Ciencia y Tecnología (IBICT), Brasil
- Laura Inés Rovelli, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) / Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
- Víctor Gómez-Valenzuela, Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), República Dominicana
- Alejandro Uribe-Tirado, Universidad de Antioquia / EIB-CICINF, Colombia