Diamond Open Access is a concept that emerged from the academic environment. It guarantees editorial independence and scientific transparency.
Authors are not required to make financial contributions for their submissions. This avoids any financial influence on editorial decisions.
SMW was one of the first journals to adhere to the principles of Diamond Open Access.
As stated by the UNESCO, Open Science “has the potential of making the scientific process more transparent, inclusive and democratic. It is increasingly recognized as a critical accelerator for the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and a true game changer in bridging the science, technology and innovation gaps and fulfilling the human right to science”.
In the “author-pays model“, article processing charges can become a major threat to the independence of editorial decisions, since the more articles accepted, the higher the income for the journal. Due to the SMW supporting association, which covers all related costs, the Swiss Medical Weekly remains independent and offers a high-quality journal without any costs for either authors or readers.
The SMW had built its own freely accessible website, initially only with the abstracts of the articles, as early as in 1996. It has followed the open access model since the first OA declarations and initiatives. Full-text PDFs have been published since January 2000 (the Budapest Open Access Initiative was released in 2002 and the Berlin Declaration in 2003).
In March 2022, Science Europe, cOAlition S, OPERAS, and the French National Research Agency presented an “Action Plan for Diamond Open Access” to further develop and expand a sustainable, community-driven Diamond OA scholarly communication ecosystem. Swiss Medical Weekly is one of the journals who share its vision and ethos and have endorsed it.
UNESCO launched the Global Diamond Open Access Alliance on 10 July 2024. In the invitation to the inaugural meeting, which was held online and attended by two SMW representatives, it was stated: “The Diamond OA publication model has emerged as a transformative force in the scholarly publishing landscape, challenging the increasingly inequitable and unaffordable current system of knowledge dissemination. (…) It ensures that research outputs are freely accessible, while eliminating financial burdens for authors and readers. A distinctive feature of Diamond OA is its community-driven approach, since all contents are owned and led by the scholarly community, fostering a sense of ownership and accountability amongst all stakeholders.”
From my personal experience, I would like to point out that the journal not only has a strong brand as a high quality scientific journal, but also plays a crucial role for the academic medical community. lt is a well-accepted peer reviewed journal, contributing to many academic careers in Switzerland and is read with interest by all medical specialists. This enables an important networking aspect especially for upcoming scientific clusters and researchers.
