Diamond Open Access on the rise in the U.S., thanks to Gates Foundation grant

November 19, 2025 — A $206,886 grant from the Gates Foundation awarded to Lyrasis, in collaboration with the Big Ten Academic Alliance’s Center for Library Programs and the California Digital Library (CDL), will support the new project Mapping U.S. Diamond Open Access Journals — an initiative to advance community-governed scholarly publishing in the United States. 

"We’re very excited about this opportunity to advance Diamond OA work in the US and deepen this very important work in alignment with the global effort to develop sustainable, academy-owned solutions for scholarly publishing," said Maurice York, Vice President for Library Programs for the Big Ten Academic Alliance.

Diamond OA journals are peer-reviewed and free for authors to publish in and readers to access, operating on a completely non-commercial basis.

The new project will continue to build on the already ongoing commitment of the awarded organizations to advance Diamond Open Access in the United States. 

"This foundational study will strengthen the U.S. community of Diamond OA publishers and create greater alignment with the global Diamond OA publishing community in our shared work to advance solutions to some of scholarly communications’ most persistent problems," said Kate McCready, Program Director for Open Publishing at the Big Ten Academic Alliance.

By eliminating commercial barriers, the project aims to expand the reach and impact and broaden the range of voices and perspectives in today’s scholarly research landscape. The project will run through February 2027.

Read the official press release here. 

Media Contact:

Kate McCready,
Program Director for Open Publishing
Big Ten Academic Alliance
612-626-4357
kate.mccready@btaa.org