We are delighted to announce that the University of Cambridge Libraries and Archives has joined the Open Journals Collective. Cambridge is the first library to have joined at the platinum tier of membership, the highest category, and this represents a very significant investment in the OJC. The OJC is dedicated to transforming the way that academic research is supported and disseminated, and the support of Cambridge will be instrumental in helping us achieve our objectives of making journals free to read and publish in, offering a viable alternative to commercial transformative agreements, and empowering journals to flip to diamond open access.
The University of Cambridge is an established leader in open research, and a high-profile champion of community-led diamond open access publishing. Most recently they have established the Cambridge Diamond Open Access platform, providing infrastructure and support to community-led and not-for-profit journals. And they are leading the way in open research in the humanities and social sciences, through the Materialising Open Research Practices in the Humanities and Social Sciences (MORPHSS) project, being led by Dr Samuel Moore.
Dr Sacha Jones, Head of Open Research Services at University of Cambridge Libraries and Archives,said “The Open Journals Collective offers libraries a practical way to support the growing ecosystem of community-led diamond open access journals. We’re delighted to support this initiative and the ethical alternatives it provides for those responsible for producing and sustaining journals, and for those reading and publishing in them. This opens up opportunities for Cambridge’s academic community but it goes far beyond our own institution and we’re particularly excited to see how OJC enables the wider ecosystem to thrive.”
Tom Shaw, the Open Journals Collective’s Library Engagement Lead, said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Cambridge to the Open Journals Collective as one of our founding members. The OJC is committed to transforming scholarly publishing by helping libraries invest strategically and at scale in a credible alternative to commercial big deals. Cambridge’s support as a sector leader in open access will be instrumental in realising our vision and making reading and publishing free and sustainable for all”.
Professor Caroline Edwards, Executive Director of the Open Journals Collective, said: “We’re thrilled to be joined by the University of Cambridge Library and Archives. Working together, we can disrupt an unfair and unaffordable system of shareholder-driven for-profit publishing. If universities want to reduce library spend on commercial transformative agreements then the sector must work collectively to build an exit ramp that can support non-profit journals and the academic editors who work tirelessly to run those journals. Cambridge shares our vision and we are grateful for their support.”
About the Open Journals Collective
Launching fully in January 2026, the Open Journals Collective is an international movement of scholars, libraries, and university-based publishers. Its mission is to challenge profit-driven publishing models by providing a community-governed infrastructure for diamond open access research that is free for both authors and readers.
The OJC is a non-profit Community Interest Company (16431892) registered in the UK.
Media Contact: Please contact the OJC Directors by email at memberships@openjournalscollective.org
OJC Directors: Professor Caroline Edwards (Open Library of Humanities / Birkbeck, University of London), Joanna Ball (Directory of Open Access Journals), Dr Rupert Gatti (Open Book Publishers / Trinity College, Cambridge)
Website: openjournalscollective.org