India, which hosts one of the world’s largest publicly funded research systems and publishes thousands of scholarly journals, many of them operating without author fees, was placed at the centre of global conversations on equitable knowledge sharing at the Global Summit on Diamond Open Access (OA) in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
According to a release, the five-day summit, being held from February 2 to 6, has brought together researchers, librarians, policymakers, publishers, funding agencies and government representatives from across the world, including participants from international organisations such as UNESCO and FAO. Hosted in India for the first time, the summit focuses on Diamond Open Access, a model of scholarly publishing that does not charge fees to either authors or readers and is owned and governed by academic communities with support from publicly oriented institutions.
The release stated that the discussions come at a critical moment, as Open Access publishing has expanded rapidly over the past decade, often through models that place publication costs on authors. This, organisers noted, has raised concerns about long-term sustainability and equitable participation, particularly for researchers and institutions in the Global South.
The Diamond Open Access model seeks to address these challenges by treating scientific knowledge especially publicly funded research as a public good, supported through public funding, institutional backing, libraries and scholarly societies. The approach aligns with global policy frameworks such as the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science (2021) and ongoing discussions on digital public infrastructure.
Published – February 04, 2026 12:50 am IST
