As an Applied Research Publishing Specialist at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, I am certainly enthusiastic about promoting Diamond open access. Compared to university researchers, researchers at universities of applied sciences (UAS) have both less access to scientific articles and fewer opportunities for open access publishing. Because we as a university of applied sciences have a smaller budget for expensive licenses, access to scientific articles is limited. Moreover, we have less access to the read & publish deals of major publishers. At the moment, we are participating in the Elsevier deal, but it is not yet certain whether this will be extended. Thus, publishing in Gold open access is often difficult and expensive.

In 2023, 78 % of the publications from the HvA were published open access, which is not bad for a university of applied sciences. However, this was largely achieved via the green route, which brings with it the disadvantages mentioned in the article by Andringa et al. (2024).

Diamond open access is often challenging for UAS researchers. Because their research is practice-oriented, they often publish in professional journals, for which few diamond platforms exist. Additionally, publications are often in Dutch, further limiting open access opportunities. A Diamond platform for the Dutch language area is certainly feasible, as shown by the Diamond open access journal ‘Youth in Development,’ which is funded by the UvA Diamond Open Access Fund and the Dutch Association for Developmental Psychology. It would be wonderful if this initiative could be followed by other research areas.

Because applied research often places less emphasis on publishing in high-impact journals, that is one less barrier to establishing a diamond platform for applied research.

It is also important to consider the audience for applied research. Often, this audience is not fellow researchers but practitioners. For them, it is less common to read scientific articles, and they often have less access to paid databases through their employers. Diamond open access makes applied research more accessible to this audience.

Several universities of applied sciences have already jointly set up Publinova, a national platform for making practice-oriented research accessible. It would be great if collaboration could also be achieved in establishing a diamond platform for publishing practice-oriented research.