The Diamond road to Open Science

Summary

Diamond Open Access is the fairest and most sustainable model for scientific communication. The Diamond model promotes editorial independence, supports researchers by waiving article processing charges, and serves as an indispensable public research infrastructure. “Read & Publish” agreements increase dependence on large commercial publishers, and some of the funds currently spent on such agreements could instead be used to provide long-term support for Diamond journals. Promising models for sustainable funding and collaboration are emerging through national and international initiatives. However, Switzerland is already providing concrete evidence that institutions do not have to wait until national mechanisms are fully developed. In 2025, the University of Lausanne launched the “Diamond Open Access Fund”, a pioneering initiative of its kind in Switzerland.

The future development of Diamond Open Access should focus not only on sustainable funding but also on enhancing the quality, transparency, and culture of scholarly publishing. As Switzerland’s only fully peer-reviewed English-language Diamond medical journal, the Swiss Medical Weekly (SMW) provides an essential platform for clinically relevant Swiss research, offering international visibility and immediate open access without author fees or embargoes. SMW will continue to work towards modernising its quality assurance processes and contributing to international developments in the field of Open Science, with a view to strengthening transparency, reproducibility, and relevance in medical research.