Bengaluru Roadmap and Action Plan on Diamond Open Access Unveiled to Advance Global Knowledge Commons

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, July 31, 2026 pressrelease.in - Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Global Scholarly Community Unveils Bengaluru Roadmap and Action Plan on Diamond Open AccessHistoric outcome of the 3rd Global Summit charts a global pathway towards equitable, community-governed scholarly communication

Bengaluru, India | 30 July 2026

The Bengaluru Roadmap and Action Plan on Diamond Open Access, a landmark global framework for transforming scholarly communication, has been officially released following the successful 3rd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access, held in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, from 2–6 February 2026 under the theme:

"Collaboration for Equitable Digital Infrastructures and Knowledge Commons in Agriculture and Broader Scientific Research Systems."

The Roadmap represents the collective vision of the international Diamond Open Access community and marks the transition from global declarations to a coordinated action agenda for governments, funding agencies, research institutions, universities, scholarly societies, libraries, infrastructure providers, and researchers worldwide. It was developed through an extensive consultative process led by the International Overseeing Committee, building upon deliberations during the Bengaluru Summit and earlier milestones including the Toluca Conclusions and Way Forward (2023) and the Toluca–Cape Town Declaration (2024).

The Summit brought together 347 participants from 36 countries, including policymakers, research funders, universities, scholarly societies, librarians, publishers, infrastructure providers, and international organisations. Through plenary sessions, thematic discussions, workshops, multilingual breakout sessions, and high-level policy dialogues, participants reaffirmed that scientific knowledge is a global public good and that scholarly communication should remain community-governed, equitable, and free for both authors and readers.

A Global Vision for Diamond Open Access

The Bengaluru Roadmap positions Diamond Open Access as a scholar-led, community-owned publishing model that removes financial barriers for both authors and readers while promoting equity, inclusion, multilingualism, bibliodiversity, long-term sustainability, and open scholarly infrastructures. It aligns with the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, the Budapest Open Access Initiative, and the United Nations Global Digital Compact, reinforcing the principle that publicly funded research should remain openly accessible as a public good.

Rather than prescribing a single implementation model, the Roadmap provides a flexible framework that countries and institutions can adapt to their own research ecosystems while contributing to a shared global knowledge commons.

Six Strategic Action Areas

The Roadmap identifies six priority Action Areas for coordinated global action:

Foster policy recognition and public-interest governance by embedding Diamond Open Access into national science policies and legal frameworks.

Provide sustainable and predictable funding through structural public investment and the progressive redirection of expenditure from subscriptions, Article Processing Charges (APCs), and Transformative Agreements towards community-governed infrastructures.

Reform research assessment by moving beyond journal-based metrics and recognising the full range of scholarly contributions, including data, software, peer review, editorial work, and societal impact.

Strengthen public-interest infrastructure, standards, and interoperability through open-source technologies, repositories, persistent identifiers, multilingual metadata, and responsible AI.

Build capacity and recognise scholarly contributions by supporting editorial teams, peer reviewers, technical staff, and Early Career Researchers through training, institutional recognition, and long-term support.

Advance multilingualism, bibliodiversity, and inclusion, ensuring that scholarship in all languages and knowledge traditions is valued within the global research ecosystem. Structural Reform for a Sustainable Research Ecosystem

The Roadmap calls for a systemic transformation of scholarly publishing by replacing fragmented, commercially driven publishing models with publicly supported, community-governed infrastructures. It advocates sustained investment in open scholarly infrastructure, preservation systems, repositories, metadata services, and shared editorial support while protecting these public assets from commercial acquisition and vendor lock-in.

A central recommendation is the reform of research evaluation systems to recognise quality, openness, collaboration, and societal impact rather than relying predominantly on journal impact factors and commercial indexing services.

Supporting Early Career Researchers and Responsible AI

Recognising that Early Career Researchers often face the greatest barriers under current publishing and evaluation systems, the Roadmap recommends stronger institutional support, revised assessment practices, dedicated funding, mentorship opportunities, and formal recognition of editorial and peer-review contributions.

The document also addresses the growing influence of Artificial Intelligence in scholarly communication, calling for transparent, ethical, and community-governed AI frameworks that safeguard authorship, research integrity, and open scholarly resources while preventing their enclosure within proprietary systems.

From Principles to Action

The Bengaluru Roadmap establishes a monitoring framework encouraging governments, institutions, regional networks, and international organisations to report on policy implementation, infrastructure development, funding, and research assessment reforms. It envisions measurable progress before the next Global Summit, ensuring that commitments translate into tangible outcomes for researchers and society.

The accompanying Event Report describes the Roadmap as the Summit's principal outcome, representing a transition from shared aspirations to concrete implementation strategies that can be adapted globally while remaining rooted in local contexts.

Looking Ahead

The organisers invite governments, research funding organisations, universities, scholarly societies, publishers, infrastructure providers, libraries, and researchers across the world to engage with the Bengaluru Roadmap and Action Plan and translate its recommendations into national, regional, institutional, and disciplinary initiatives.

Progress on the implementation of the Roadmap will be reviewed during the 4th Global Summit on Diamond Open Access, scheduled to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, where the international community will evaluate achievements, share experiences, and further strengthen collaborative efforts towards an equitable, inclusive, and sustainable global knowledge commons.

Media Contact

Sridhar Gutam, PhD, ARS

Organising Secretary, 3rd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access

Email: gutam2000@gmail.com https://www.diamondoasummit.org/ Mobile: +91-9005760036 / +91-8002678768