On May 22, 2025, 10:00 – 11:30 (CEST), the webinar “Research Assessment in Transition: Open Infrastructures, Policy, and Diamond Open Access” will take place, organised by GraspOS in collaboration with CRAFT-OA and DIAMAS.

These European initiatives support the development of Diamond Open Access – a scholarly publishing model that is free of charge for both authors and readers. Their goal is to strengthen the infrastructure, increase the quality and visibility of such journals, and ensure that the model is adequately represented in research assessment systems.

Participating projects:

• GraspOS (Grasping Open Science): Develops infrastructure for more open and equitable research assessment.
• CRAFT-OA (Creating a Robust Accessible Federated Technology for Open Access): Supports technical services and tools for small and medium-sized Diamond OA publishers.

• DIAMAS (Developing Institutional Open Access Publishing Models to Advance Scholarly Communication): Enhances quality, sustainability, and coordination of non-commercial scholarly publishing across Europe.

The webinar will provide an overview of how Diamond OA intersects with research assessment reform. It will also address broader initiatives such as CoARA (Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment) and the Barcelona Declaration, both of which advocate for a move away from metrics-based evaluation toward more open, qualitative approaches.

In 2022, the Czech Academy of Sciences joined the CoARA coalition by signing the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment (ARRA). In response, it published its own Action Plan for Research Assessment Reform (CAS CoARA Action Plan 2024 – 2027). Several individual institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences, such as the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry and the Global Change Research Institute, have also endorsed the agreement. Other key Czech signatories include the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the Czech Science Foundation, and the Research, Development and Innovation Council of the Government of the Czech Republic.

The topic of the webinar thus directly reflects current trends in both Czech and European science policy. The event is aimed at researchers, infrastructure providers, publishers, and policymakers. It offers practical examples of how Diamond OA can be integrated into new assessment frameworks and how to overcome persistent biases against non-commercial publishing.

More information and registration here.