12 2 / 2025 // LEOPOLDINA / NEWS
Diamond Open Access model providing free access to publications
The way in which scientific findings are being published is radically changing. The increasing market concentration of large publishing houses over decades has resulted in structural dependencies. Furthermore, new technological developments – such as the use of artificial intelligence in research, peer review and text creation – are opening up fundamentally new opportunities and challenges for academic publishing.
Creating free access to scientific knowledge – this is the subject of a current discussion paper.
Image: Sisters of Design | Leopoldina
In response to these developments, a Leopoldina working group led by Diethard Tautz ML presented a new model for the funding and evaluation of scientific journals in April. The proposal, published in a Leopoldina Discussion Paper, is based on the idea that scientific journals should no longer be financed by publication fees or commercial subscriptions, but by public funding.
The central element of the concept is the Diamond Open Access model, which provides completely free access for authors and readers. Professional societies, academies or other public institutions with a scientific mandate should be responsible for publishing. To ensure quality and relevance over the long term, the model provides for the financed journals to be regularly evaluated by independent bodies. The aim is to create a sustainable, fair, and cost-efficient publication infrastructure for the results of publicly funded research.
The model was discussed with scientific institutions and academic societies at a Leopoldina Symposium in June.
■ CB, SWE
Discussion paper“ A New Concept for the Direct Funding... of Scientific Journals”
Bausch Fellow: The Powers of Sound and Music
Since June, Leendert van der Miesen has been conducting research at the Centre for Science Studies with funding from the Johann Lorenz Bausch Fellowship. The residence of the musicologist is dedicated to the project“ The Miraculous Ear in the Early German Enlightenment: The Powers of Sound and Music in the Early Academia naturae curiosorum”. Van der Miesen is undertaking studies to discover the extent to which scholars at the academy have worked on topics related to sound and music and how this relates to the institutional and cultural context of physicians in the 17th century.
Van der Miesen submitted his doc-
Bausch Fellowship 2025 Leendert van der Miesen.
Image: private toral thesis“ Harmonies at Work: Marin Mersenne and the Study of Music in the Early Modern Period” at the Institute for Musicology and Media Studies at Humboldt-Universität in Berlin / Germany and has been part of the research group for the“ Visualisation of Science in Media Revolutions” at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome / Italy since 2022. The fellowship is being funded again by the Friends of the Leopoldina Academy.
■ LBA
The Johann Lorenz Bausch Fellowship