A Future-Proof Journal for the Low Countries
Politics of the Low Countries Embraces Diamond Open Access
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54195/plc.26132Keywords:
Diamond Open Access, Open publishingAbstract
The year 2025 marks a watershed moment for Politics of the Low Countries (PLC). From 1 January 2025, PLC transitioned from Boom/Eleven Publishers to Radboud University Press (RUP) as a diamond open access (DOA) journal, making all articles free to publish and free to read. This editorial outlines the rationale behind PLC's decision to adopt a DOA publishing model, examines the implications of this transition for the journal's financial structure and editorial workflow, and demonstrates how researchers in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg will benefit from this change.
Downloads
References
Bouteca N., et al. (2019). A New Journal with a Long Tradition. Politics of the Low Countries, 1(1), 3-5. doi:10.5553/PLC/258999292019001001001
De Cleene, D. (2018, September 5). Gratis wetenschap, nu of nooit? EOS Wetenschap. https://www.eoswetenschap.eu/technologie/gratis-wetenschap-nu-nooit
Grégoire, M., (1959) “Editorial”, Res Publica 1(1), 3-5. https://doi.org/10.21825/rp.v1i1.20499
Huang, CK., Neylon, C., Montgomery, L. et al. (2024) Open access research outputs receive more diverse citations. Scientometrics 129, 825–845. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-023-04894-0
Langham-Putrow A, Bakker C & Riegelman A (2021) Is the open access citation advantage real? A systematic review of the citation of open access and subscription-based articles. PLOS ONE 16(6): e0253129. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253129
Livio, C., & Kramer, B. (2025). A curated list of Diamond OA journals in the Netherlands [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17185089
Mills, D., Mertkan, S., & Onurkan Aliusta, G. (2025). ‘Special issue-ization’ as a growth and revenue strategy: Reproduction by the “big five” and the risks for research integrity. Accountability in Research, 32(6), 1027–1045. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2024.2374567
Morais, R., Stoy, L., & Borrell-Damián, L. (2019). 2019 Big deals survey: An updated mapping of major scholarly publishing contracts in Europe. European University Association.
Oviedo-García, M. Á. (2021). Journal citation reports and the definition of a predatory journal: The case of the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). Research Evaluation, 30(3), 405-419a.
Pouw, W., & Bakker, B. (2024, December). Bezuinigen? Tijd voor een open access-revolutie. ScienceGuide. https://www.scienceguide.nl/2024/12/bezuinigen-tijd-voor-een-open-access-revolutie/
Siler, K. (2020, May 13). There is no black and white definition of predatory publishing. LSE Impact Blog. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2020/05/13/there-is-no-black-and-white-definition-of-predatory-publishing/
TU Delft Delta. (2016, December 21). Universiteiten betalen 43 miljoen euro aan tijdschriften. Δ - TU Delft Delta. https://delta.tudelft.nl/en/article/universiteiten-betalen-43-miljoen-euro-aan-tijdschriften-clone
van der Graaf, M., & Johnson, R. (2021, January). Naar 100% open access voor Nederlandse onderzoekspublicaties: Tijdschriftartikelen. Vereniging Samenwerkende Nederlandse Universiteiten (VSNU). Ministerie van OCW. https://www.universiteitenvannederland.nl/files/publications/Naar%20100%20procent%20Open%20Access%20-%20tijdschriftartikelen.pdf
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Maurits J. Meijers, Audrey Vandeleene (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
