EIFL releases a report, ‘Landscape of no-fee open access publishing in Africa’, that provides an overview of open access (OA) journals in Africa that do not charge fees for either authors or readers (often referred to as Diamond OA journals). 

The report is based on survey responses from 199 journals, 21 institutional, national and continental platforms that host Diamond OA journals. It also includes 25 country reports with information about current funding and financial sustainability approaches and challenges, institutional in-kind support, incentives, collaborations among Diamond OA journals, needs, and strategies to advance Diamond OA in Africa. 

The landscape survey was conducted as a part of the three-year ‘Collaboration for sustainable open access publishing in Africa’ project (November 2023- October 2026), implemented by EIFL, AJOL (African Journals Online) and WACREN (the West and Central African Research and Education Network) with support from Wellcome. The report informed and guided us in our planning for developing and delivering a participatory funding approach to strengthen the quality and sustainability of African Diamond OA publishing while maintaining its diversity. 

Just over 60% of the journals responding to the survey rely partially or fully on volunteer work, and this project intends to change that by strengthening national and regional collaboration and securing funding commitments from governments and institutions by embedding support for Diamond OA publishing in open science policies. 

The study also highlights the editorial quality of African Diamond OA journals and their peer review workflows, technical services efficiency, and visibility and discoverability. 

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the consultation process - OA journals and portals who filled out our surveys and authors of our country reports. 

• Browse the main findings and highlights from the report in this online version.
• Download a PDF version of the report.