November 19, 2025 — Lyrasis, in collaboration with the Big Ten Academic Alliance’s Center for Library Programs and the California Digital Library (CDL), has been awarded a $206,886 grant from the Gates Foundation to advance community-governed, open access scholarly publishing in the United States.
The grant will support the project Mapping U.S. Diamond Open Access Journals, which will conduct the first national mapping of Diamond Open Access (OA) publishing in the United States. Diamond OA journals are peer-reviewed publications that are free for both authors and readers and operate without commercial profit motives. The project will illuminate the decentralized U.S. landscape of Diamond OA journals, surface sector-wide challenges, and provide actionable recommendations in support of sustainable, non-commercial scholarly publishing. By identifying infrastructure, investment, and policy needs, the project aims to produce actionable recommendations to guide institutions, funders, and coalitions in creating sustainable, field-informed investments that strengthen openness and resilience in scholarly communication.
This work builds on the ongoing commitment of these organizations to advance Diamond Open Access in the United States, as outlined in this April 2024 press release.
“This project represents a significant commitment to building a future where scholarly research is fully recognized as a public good,” said Sharla Lair, Lead Strategist of Open Scholarship at Lyrasis. “Supported by the grant, our team will identify opportunities for collaboration among existing Diamond Open Access initiatives in the U.S., including those supported by the Big Ten Academic Alliance’s Center for Library Programs and the California Digital Library, while also uncovering new ways to strengthen connections between U.S. efforts and the global Diamond Open Access movement.”
Scholarly publishing is currently dominated by commercial publishers, whose profit-driven practices create barriers to authorship and access. Diamond OA offers a community-driven alternative that eliminates fees for authors and readers, democratizing access and fostering broader participation in research. By supporting economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable publishing models, the project aims to expand the reach and impact of scholarship while strengthening the scholarly record with a broader range of voices and perspectives.
The project will run through February 2027 and will be led by Sharla Lair, Lead Strategist of Open Scholarship at Lyrasis with support from co-PIs Catherine Mitchell, Director of Publishing, Archives, and Digitization at the California Digital Library, and Kate McCready, Program Director for Open Publishing at the Big Ten Academic Alliance. Data collection and analysis are being led by Emily Goff of Goff Group, LLC.
The success of this project depends on the engagement of the broader community. We invite individuals and organizations interested in staying informed about this project to complete this form to receive updates and opportunities to participate.
To learn more, please contact:
- Sharla Lair, sharla.lair@lyrasis.org, Senior Strategist, Open Access & Scholarly Communication Initiatives, Lyrasis
- Kate McCready, kate.mccready@btaa.org, Program Director for Open Publishing, Big Ten Academic Alliance
- Catherine Mitchell, catherine.mitchell@ucop.edu, Director of Publishing, Archives, and Digitization, California Digital Library
About the Big Ten Academic Alliance:
The Big Ten Academic Alliance is the nation’s preeminent model for effective collaboration among research universities. For more than half a century, these world-class institutions have advanced their academic missions, generated unique opportunities for students and faculty, and served the common good by sharing expertise, leveraging campus resources, and collaborating on innovative programs. Governed and funded by the provosts of the member universities, Big Ten Academic Alliance programs and initiatives are coordinated by a staff from its Champaign, Illinois headquarters. The nineteen world-class libraries of the Big Ten Academic Alliance include Indiana University, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Illinois, University of Iowa, University of Maryland–College Park, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, University of Oregon, University of Southern California, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the University of Chicago.
About the California Digital Library:
The systemwide library for the ten University of California campuses, the California Digital Library (CDL) is committed to advancing open access to scholarly research via a number of innovative strategies or “pathways.” Among these is eScholarship Publishing, a Diamond open access library publishing program supported by the UC system and offered free of charge to UC-affiliated editors, authors, and publications. eScholarship offers publishing and production tools as well as professional support and consulting services for journals, preprints, monographs, and other original scholarship. eScholarship’s publications (including its nearly 100 OA journals) often traverse traditional disciplinary boundaries, explore new publishing models, support under-represented voices within the scholarly record, and reach communities and/or professionals in applied fields beyond academia.
About Goff Group, LLC:
Goff Group, LLC is a woman-owned program evaluation firm based in St. Paul, Minnesota. The firm specializes in research and education evaluations in higher education, with expertise in inclusive and developmental evaluation. Goff Group partners with universities, foundations, and consortia to generate actionable insights that strengthen organizational learning and impact.
About Lyrasis:
Lyrasis is a community-supported membership organization whose mission is to support enduring access to the world’s shared academic, scientific and cultural heritage through leadership in open technologies, content services, digital solutions and collaboration with archives, libraries, museums and knowledge communities worldwide.