Outcome Document of the 3rd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access
The Bengaluru Roadmap and Action Plan on Diamond Open Access has officially been released as the principal outcome document of the 3rd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access, held in Bengaluru, India, from 2–6 February 2026.
The roadmap is available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20168763
The document emerged from an extensive consultative process led by the International Oversight Committee and reflects the deliberations, recommendations, and shared priorities of 347 participants from 36 countries. Participants included representatives from universities, research institutions, libraries, scholarly societies, funding agencies, open infrastructure organizations, policy bodies, and community-led publishing initiatives.
The Bengaluru Summit built upon earlier global discussions initiated at the Diamond Open Access Summits in Toluca, Mexico (2023) and Cape Town, South Africa (2024). At the same time, it expanded the dialogue by bringing stronger participation and perspectives from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other regions of the Global South.
The Bengaluru Roadmap recognizes that the future of scholarly communication requires systems that are equitable, publicly accountable, community-governed, multilingual, and sustainable. It argues that knowledge should remain a public good rather than becoming increasingly dependent on commercial publishing structures that create financial and systemic barriers.
The roadmap outlines strategic recommendations and action areas focused on:
- Strengthening publicly funded and community-owned publishing infrastructure
- Supporting Diamond Open Access journals and platforms
- Promoting bibliodiversity and multilingual scholarly communication
- Advancing responsible research assessment practices
- Encouraging regional and international collaboration
- Improving interoperability, metadata standards, and discoverability
- Building sustainable governance and funding models
- Expanding training and capacity-building initiatives
- Supporting inclusive participation across disciplines and regions
A major theme throughout the discussions was the need to move beyond fragmented approaches and toward cooperative global frameworks that support non-commercial scholarly communication ecosystems.
The Bengaluru Roadmap also emphasizes that Diamond Open Access should not be viewed merely as a publishing model without author-facing or reader-facing charges. Rather, it represents a broader commitment to restoring scholarly communication as a commons-based public infrastructure serving research, education, and society.
The Summit brought together a diverse global community committed to strengthening open scholarly communication systems that prioritize equity, transparency, academic freedom, and long-term sustainability.
The organisers express their sincere appreciation to all participants, speakers, partner institutions, sponsors, volunteers, and members of the International Oversight Committee whose contributions helped shape the Bengaluru Roadmap and Action Plan.
The document is expected to serve as a reference framework for institutions, policymakers, funders, libraries, scholarly societies, and publishing initiatives working toward more inclusive and community-governed scholarly communication systems worldwide.
Read and download the Bengaluru Roadmap and Action Plan: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20168763