Diamond Fractures: Tracing Journal Transitions Away from Diamond Open Access

2026-06-30

AI Summary

This study investigates the phenomenon of “diamond fracture”—the transition of Diamond Open Access (OA) journals to subscription models or article processing charge (APC)-based publishing—and its systemic risks to the OA ecosystem. By integrating data from DOAJ delisting logs, publisher OA portfolios, historical APC records, and Open Journal Systems surveys, the research identifies and analyzes over 440 journals that have undergone such transitions, examining their pathways, fee structures, disciplinary distributions, and publication volume fluctuations. The work introduces the concept of “diamond fracture” for the first time, demonstrating that most transitioning journals adopt APCs ranging from USD 8 to USD 5,300, thereby revealing inflationary pressures inherent in author-pays models. The findings underscore the urgent need for community-driven, sustainable funding mechanisms to safeguard the foundational principles of open science.

Abstract

While much attention has been paid to journals transitioning toward Diamond Open Access (OA), comparatively little is known about those moving in the opposite direction. We introduce the concept of "diamond fractures"--instances in which journals that once published freely for both readers and authors subsequently abandoned that model, transitioning to subscription-based or article processing charge (APC)-funded publishing. Drawing on publisher OA portfolio records, historical APC lists, removal logs from the Directory of Open Access Journals, and a survey of journals using Open Journal Systems, we identified and characterized more than 440 journals that have undergone such fractures and analyzed how they are distributed across publisher types, disciplines, and regions; which models journals transition to and at what price points; how old journals are when they fracture; and how publication volume shifts in the period surrounding the transition. This paper reports on more than 440 confirmed fractures, the majority of which involve transitions to charging APCs, ranging from $8 to $5,300. These findings raise urgent questions about the stability of diamond OA as a publishing ecosystem. The transition to APCs--even at initially modest price points--follows well-documented warnings about the hyperinflationary tendencies of author-pays models, in which charges introduced as a pragmatic stopgap have repeatedly escalated over time. The rate of fractures are likely to intensify as APC-based publishing continues to be normalized through funder mandates and commercial OA incentives. Diamond fractures demand to be treated not as isolated institutional decisions but as a systemic risk--one that can only be addressed through sustained investment in community-governed infrastructure and funding models that reduce the conditions under which abandoning diamond OA becomes the path of least resistance.

Problem

• Diamond Open Access
• journal transitions
• APC
• open access publishing
• diamond fractures

Innovation

• diamond open access
• diamond fractures
• article processing charges
• open access transitions
• scholarly publishing