The movement for open, equitable research is reaching a decisive moment. In February 2026, the global community will converge in Bengaluru, India, for the 3rd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access—a gathering focused not on promises, but on building durable, community-owned pathways for scholarly communication.
At the centre of this momentum stands Open Access India: a volunteer-driven, practitioner-led community that has spent years defending scholarly knowledge as a public good. Anchored in the straightforward conviction that publicly funded research belongs to the public, the community has gone beyond advocacy to build the infrastructure—practical tools and platforms—that allow Diamond (no-fee) publishing to take root and scale, particularly in the Global South.
A Vision of Sovereignty: The Delhi Declaration
This work found clear articulation in the Delhi Declaration on Open Access (2018). More than a policy statement, the Declaration framed open access as a matter of equity, development, and social justice, asserting that access barriers disproportionately harm researchers and communities in resource-constrained contexts.
The Declaration challenged entrenched norms by calling for:
- Default openness, with immediate access to publicly funded research
- Early sharing via preprints, to accelerate discovery and collaboration
- Community governance, ensuring scholarly infrastructure remains in the hands of researchers and societies—not commercial markets
These principles now sit squarely at the core of global Diamond Open Access discussions.
Building the Commons: Flagship Community Infrastructures
Open Access India’s approach has always been practical. Rather than debating openness in the abstract, the community has focused on building and sustaining shared infrastructure.
- AgriXiv (now as agriRxiv)
Launched in 2017 to address a critical gap in agricultural and allied sciences, agriRxiv enables researchers to share findings early, transparently, and without cost. Now relaunched in collaboration with CABI, the platform has gained a stable institutional home while retaining its non-commercial, community-first ethos. - IndiaRxiv
A multidisciplinary national preprint repository for Indian researchers, IndiaRxiv is a study in resilience. Originally launched with the Centre for Open Science, it is now hosted by the Society for Promotion of Horticulture (SPH), Bengaluru. All previously deposited content remains accessible—demonstrating that community-owned infrastructure can adapt and endure without commercial capture. - IndiaJOL
IndiaJOL supports non-profit scholarly societies in publishing journals that charge neither authors nor readers. By removing financial barriers and preserving editorial independence, the platform enables local academic voices to achieve global visibility without compromise—Diamond Open Access in practice, not theory.
Pride in Supporting the 3rd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access
Open Access India takes genuine pride in supporting the 3rd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access, to be held at Bengaluru, from 2–6 February 2026.
Under the theme “Collaboration for Equitable Digital Infrastructures and Knowledge Commons,” the Summit will bring together researchers, policymakers, librarians, funders, and publishers to move from principles to actionable, community-governed solutions.
For Open Access India, this is a full-circle moment. The Summit reflects the very values the community has upheld for years: multilingualism, responsible research assessment, non-commercial publishing, and public ownership of knowledge infrastructures.
Open access succeeds when communities—not markets—are in control. The Bengaluru Summit is an opportunity to reaffirm this hard truth and to build a practical roadmap for a genuinely inclusive global knowledge commons.
Looking Ahead
As Bengaluru prepares to welcome the global Diamond Open Access community, Open Access India invites researchers, institutions, and societies to engage—by sharing preprints, strengthening society journals, or contributing to the Summit’s dialogue and outcomes.
This is long work, not quick reform. But it is necessary work. And it is work best done together.