Five minutes with Edinburgh Diamond

Five minutes with Edinburgh Diamond

In the latest in our series showcasing our members, we spoke to Rebecca Wojturska, Open Access Publishing Officer, about Edinburgh Diamond, a publishing service based at the University of Edinburgh. 

Tell us about your publishing initiative.

Edinburgh Diamond – a service based within Edinburgh University Library – supports Diamond Open Access publishing activities. The service is free of charge to Edinburgh staff and students and allows them to publish journals and books with full library support in the areas of hosting (via open source software Open Journals Systems (OJS) and Open Monograph Press (OMP)), technical support, indexing, policy development, best-practice guidance and workflow training. The service launched in 2009, and was known as the journal hosting service before our rebrand and growth in 2021. We set the service up due to academic demand – many staff members were running their own journals using non-publishing platforms – and needed professional publishing support, while retaining editorial control and rights themselves. Our aim is to provide a robust and professional alternative publishing option for those who wish to publish Diamond Open Access but retain editorial control.

What is your proudest achievement?

Our proudest achievement is actually our rebrand as Edinburgh Diamond and launch of our book hosting service! We feel our new name, along with our new unlocked diamond graphic, has given us international recognition and makes it easier to promote the service and the excellent research we host.

What challenges have you had to overcome in setting up Edinburgh Diamond?

One challenge, which I’m sure many other library publishing initiatives experience, is lack of resource. We have 1 full-time member of staff working on the strategy and day-to-day management of the service (me!) and one day a week of tech support. We also don’t currently offer copyediting or typesetting services due to lack of funds. However, we recently recruited a full time Open Hosting Developer to work on the service, and are looking at funding models to offer further services.

What has been the response from academics at your institution and beyond?

It has been very positive! So many members of staff and students hadn’t realised Edinburgh Diamond even existed, and they are even more glad when they realise they can use the service for free! Of course, our model isn’t suitable for all academics, but we have honestly had a very warm reception internally and externally. I’ve been fortunate enough to present at conferences around the world, including Charleston, LIBER, the Library Publishing Forum, UKSG and the Munin conference, and I’ve always had excellent feedback about our service, and it’s been great to hear what other institutions are up to in this area.

Tell us about your future plans or ambitions.

We have more growth planned! As mentioned, we have recently hired a full-time Open Hosting Developer to work on Edinburgh Diamond. This will allow us to fine-tune our service and offer more timely and thorough technical support, making the service stronger and a more viable option for editors and authors.

Why does open institutional publishing matter?

The current academic publishing system is broken. While there is no one route that would fix everything, I believe that putting scholarship back into the hands of the researcher is important. Having said that, the role of the publisher cannot be replaced. This is a specialist skillset that authors shouldn’t have to learn (and I doubt they would have the time either!). Bringing the institution into the publishing process allows for stronger ties between librarians, publishers and authors, and making content open offers the opportunity for greater reach, citations and downloads. In other words, there is scope to truly make an impact and work together towards social and community good.

What do you think open institutional publishing needs to develop further?

I think transparency is a core issue in our sector. Many authors and librarians have no idea how publishing works. Publishers aren’t always transparent about the ins and outs of publishing, and sometimes it can be seen as a competition rather than a collaboration. I thinking making everything as open as possible – publications, internal processes, metadata, company practices and workflow – would have a huge positive impact.

What is the future of open institutional publishing in your view?   

We are already seeing a growing number of library publishing initiatives launching, and I don’t think this will stop any time soon. I envision that Open Access will continue to grow in our area, although I hope it isn’t at the snail’s pace we have seen already!