Financial constraints are by far the most pressing challenge that affects three-quarters (149; 74.87%) of the respondents, while nearly half of them (90; 45.2%) are struggling with the lack of human resources. Infrastructure-related and administrative challenges affect more than 30% of the respondents. 

Table 16. Challenges faced by Diamond OA journals

 
Free-text responses highlight additional challenges, such as recruiting reviewers and the slow pace of their work, low submission rates, registration in journal databases, marketing, geographic diversity of authors, but also the fact that African journals are expected to adopt ethical principles and guidelines coming from the West, though these are not necessarily relevant in the African context. 

Challenges

Here is a brief summary of the survey responses:

Financial challenges

• Reliance on one or a few funding sources with no alternatives available.
• Limited government or institutional funding cannot support growth and quality improvement.
• Dependence on time-limited project funding, grants, sponsorship, donations or even private funding sponsorship by the editor-in-chief. 
• Limited funding from the main funding sources (inadequate budget unable to cover professional services, meetings, equipment).
• No dedicated budget for the journal.
• Research funding is limited on a year by year basis.
• Lack of stable/permanent sources of funding/subsidies from the journal's primary institution and collaborating organizations.
• Competition for funding from grants, sponsorships, or institutional support, especially in niche research areas or during economic downturns.
• Delays in funding jeopardize the commitment of editors and editorial staff.
• Limited financial resources are additionally affected by inflation.
• Operational costs that need to be covered (costs related to editorial management, online publishing, and other operational expenses).
• The rising costs of typesetting and technical support.
• The lack of foreign currency resources limits access to international services.
• Funds to pay to COPE, Crosref, OASPA, and other membership fees
• Insufficient funding involves the risk that a journal could be overtaken by a commercial publisher, or that it would have to switch to the subscribe-to-open model or introduce APCs to cover some costs; at the same time, the journal may become less accessible to authors who cannot cover publication fees.
• The journal hopes for a wide base of supporters who can donate minimal amounts regularly to keep the journal free for all.

Strategic and sustainability planning challenges

• A permanent plan, editor, staffing  and financial/funding plan.
• Making the journal attractive for sponsors; investing in promotion to attract more sponsors.
• Funding is needed to get consultants to meet in order to develop a strategic plan that will facilitate the consistent execution of the journal’s editorial tasks, and to assure adherence to globally recognized quality standards in editorial work and publishing.
• Long term partnerships: finding a serious and reliable partner.

Human resources challenges

• The time dedicated to editorial duties requires a full-time employee to uphold the standards the journal strives for.
• Due to the lack of resources it is impossible to engage permanent staff for the journal.
• There is no staff dedicated specifically to the journal.
• Restrictions on hiring new staff. 
• Inability to attract and retain high-quality authors and reviewers.
• The lack of financial incentives for journal editors and editorial staff.
• Insufficient administrative staff. 
• Paying salaries for full-time administrative staff.
• Editors and editorial staff work solely on a voluntary basis.
• Reliance on volunteers due to funding constraints.
• The lack of motivation among the journal personnel (editors and editorial staff).
• Inadequate constitution of editorial boards (e.g. there are no associate editors) leads to huge workload for the editors and editorial staff and delays in publishing.
• Huge workload for editors due to funding constraints. 
• The editorial staff, being primarily experts in their disciplines, are not necessarily capable of developing and implementing financial strategies. 
• If a journal is funded through the editor's own research funds, the sustainability of the journal would be jeopardized if the editor left the role. 
• The lack of reviewers due to the lack of incentives.
• Shortage of international reviewers.
• The peer review process takes a long time due to the lack of incentives and authors end up withdrawing their papers.
• Significantly increased volume of work after acceptance for indexing in international databases (e.g. DOAJ, Scopus).
• The provision of publishing services (copyediting, proofing, typesetting). 

Institutional challenges

• The journal is owned by a host organization and the infrastructure used by the journal is owned by the host organization, which has limited financial resources, skilled manpower and infrastructure (e.g. Internet connection, power supply, etc.).
• The main challenge is reliance on host institution funding, which is limited; though stable, funding supports merely basic elements. 
• Becoming financially independent from the institution. In a private institution, journals are solely funded by tuition fees, and this places strain on the entire institution.
• The challenges to the journal’s financial sustainability are tied to the general financial challenges of the host institution and the higher education sector in the country. The journal may be affected by government or institutional cost cutting.
• Administrative constraints leave little room for additional funds.
• Time-limited (annual) budget. 
• Competition for available funds within the host organization.
• Grant allocation has become unstable and the University Research Council does not allow internal budgeting for the publication/production of a journal. 
• Administrative inflexibility.
• Complicated administrative procedures to access institutional funding for the journal and budgeting.
• Inadequate logistic support including funding.
• Seeking institutional budgetary support to meet the cost of operations.
• Provision of office space and facilities like computers, a printer and internet access.
• Capacity building to enhance performance of staff (editors, layout and formatting).
• Big journals are treated equally as small journals by the host institution. 
• Gaining financial independence from the host organization.
• Volunteer work is unreliable and seasonal. 
• Poor institutional commitment. 

Editorial quality challenges

• No funding for the development and implementation of initiatives to enhance journal quality and compliance with industry standards.
• Consistent implementation of good publication standards.
• Ensuring the publication of quality manuscripts from all countries (especially from Africa).
• Implementing rigorous peer review, publishing high-quality research.
• No funding to publish special editions.
• The acquisition of technical and editorial software, as well as buying licences for robust plagiarism checking software. 
• Journal website development and maintenance.
• Acquiring persistent identifiers, indexing.
• Production and publishing: costs associated with typesetting, copyediting, layout, and online platform maintenance can be substantial.
• Continuous editorial staff training: providing ongoing training for editors and editorial staff to stay informed about best editorial practices, technological advancements, and changes in publishing standards.
• Funding for training editorial staff, especially younger editors.
• Editorial collaboration.
• Dedicated and trained administrative staff.
• Hiring permanent staff, including administrative staff and funding for this purpose.
• No remuneration/motivation for reviewers, editorial staff, and board members. Funding is needed to pay editorial staff who usually work as volunteers.
• Long-term funding for a dedicated editorial assistant / manager. Editors don't have time to do all the editing work.
• Incentives for editors and editorial teams.
• Having a part-time administrator who can deal with admin and such matters.
• The staff (journal manager, copyeditor and typesetter) are underpaid for the service they provide. The goal is to increase their salaries to make the job worthwhile for them.
• Financial constraints for peer review process, management and  administration of the journal.
• Funds for monetary incentives for personnel.
• Funding for additional human resources: assistant editor / manager, copyeditors, English language editors, typesetters, etc. 
• Finding reviewers: it is difficult to get reviewers voluntarily. Some kind of monetary incentive is needed.
• Encouraging reviewer participation by offering incentives, training, or compensation for the time dedicated to evaluations.
• Author development support.
• Insufficient funding covering only the main publishing costs.
• Lack of funds to organize meetings (i.e., annual editorial board meeting).
• Lack of funds for advertising the journal, and produce hard or print-copies of the journal to increase its readability.

Technical challenges

• Basic infrastructure needed to run the editorial office, including offices, computers, printers, and internet connection.
• IT equipment is mostly beyond the recommended end-of-life cycle and it needs renewal.
• Robust computers and servers are needed.
• Unreliable internet connectivity issues.
• Expertise is required to address technical aspects.
• Funding needed for IT services and to address ICT issues.
• Funding is needed for editorial tools such as  iThenticate for plagiarism checking and AI plagiarism checkers.
• Funding for creating a journal website.
• Adequate publishing infrastructure is necessary to support robust editorial and publishing workflows and enhance user experience.
• Financial support needed to cover the hosting fees and production cost for the publishing platform (e.g. Open Journal Systems (OJS)), preferably for three to five years, to ensure sustainability.
• Funding to improve the journal's online submission system and production processes.
• Well-functioning online content management systems are expensive, and reliance on open-source systems results in limited functionality and manual processes.
• Backup systems and platform maintenance are required.
• Additional funding is needed for external long-term archiving/preservation  platforms.
• Funds for annual subscriptions and registration for persistent identifiers (e.d. Crossref DOI).
• Legal and administrative barriers, e.g. inability to pay in foreign currency for DOI assignment; also, this type of activity does not exist in the expense code.
• Training personnel to use the publication platform. 
• Transition from print format to online publishing.
• Technical and design services that require paid professional support.
• More funding for appointing human capacity to keep up with increasing demands and development needs, especially in non-core areas such as marketing and communication functions and in developmental role journal plays with inexperienced or untrained authors.
• Inadequate human expertise on indexing and metadata harvesting tools, and inadequate infrastructure to support online accessibility, visibility, and discoverability.
• Funds to cover production costs of journal articles (copyediting, typesetting, etc.); the work is often done by librarians or volunteers.
• In-house IT support to automate manual processes not functioning or customizable in open-source systems.

Global reach, visibility and indexation challenges

• Limited visibility in international databases and indexes.
• Difficulty in achieving indexing in reputable indexers.
• Insufficient citations.
• Limited geographical diversity of submissions, struggling to attract international researchers to publish in the journal.
• Intense competition among journals to attract quality contributions.
• Competition from global publishers.
• Increased financial pressures due to competition to attract high-quality authors.
• High expenses for marketing and promotion activities to increase the journal's visibility, attract authors, and expand the reader base.
• Need for funds to market the journal globally and participate in online promotion activities, advertising campaigns, and academic conferences.
• Costs associated with membership subscriptions in organizations such as COPE.
• Expenses related to the registration of the journal on various platforms to facilitate promotion.
• Organizing conferences, workshops, or other academic events to promote the journal and create networking opportunities.
• Financing social responsibility projects, such as education programs, awareness initiatives, or the translation of articles for increased international reach.

Changes in the publishing landscape and the need to stay informed of trends

• Rapid changes in publishing trends make it difficult to navigate the research landscape. To do this, we must stay informed of trends, be flexible in our model, and anticipate changes to be able to adapt quickly.
• Funding for capacity development and community of practice.

What kind of support would make Diamond OA journals more sustainable 

Survey responses can be summarized as follows:

Human resources support

• Additional funding for permanent editorial and administrative staff, with skilled personnel.
• More human resources and administrative support (additional IT and administrative staff , editorial assistant/manager, etc.).
• Establishment of a dedicated secretariat to manage the journal.
• Regular funding to cover staff costs (at least annual, preferably long-term).
• Reduction of primary lecturing workloads and postgraduate supervision to ensure more journal management time.
• Encouragement and support for editors; ensuring that teams are available for all stages of the editorial process.
• Recruitment of committed editorial board members and peer reviewers, with remuneration.
• Expansion of the editorial board and recruitment of more experts as associate editors.
• Sponsorship or grants to recruit staff, with financial compensation for journal bodies; honoraria for editors and editorial staff.
• Financial support for production costs and incentives for journal staff: support for peer review process, journal management, administration, marketing and training.
• Funding for establishing international linkages with resource persons as reviewers.
• Institutional collaborations for financial support, human resources, and increased visibility.
• Need for financial support in the range of about $30,000, with administrative, technical, and training support.
• Support for hosting, language editing, typesetting and administration.

Technical support and facilities, ensuring interoperability

• Office equipment
• Providing stable internet connectivity and constant access.
• Employing permanent technical staff.
• Financial support for production costs and meetings of the editorial team.
• Funding and technical support for developing a journal management system that can support editorial and publishing workflows, e.g. implementation and upgrading of the OJS platform.
• Support for hosting the journal online.
• Support for software adaptation and technical expertise in publishing and management.
• Technical support for indexing, metadata harvesting tools, and making the portal more discoverable.
• Funding for plagiarism tracking software (e.g. iThenticate subscription).
• Financial support for persistent identifiers like DOIs, including costs for member fees, content registration fees, and similarity checks.
• Funding for the long-term archiving/preservation services.
• Capacity building for editorial support on online publishing workflows.
• Financial support for operational costs, including language editing and editorial meetings.

Visibility and indexation 

• Developing a communication strategy to promote the journal.
• Support for journals to get indexed in major databases (AJOL, DOAJ, Scopus, Web of Science).
• More acknowledgment from international organizations to have more visibility and more citations to compete with big publishers.
• Improved visibility of journals.
• Funding to cover the costs of advertising.

Advocacy for Diamond OA publishing support

• A better understanding on the part of institutional management of the publishing, complexities of managing a journal and an appreciation of the value of an accredited journal; continued institutional support for the public value of academic publishing and mainstream university funding for ongoing sustainability.
• Implementing mechanisms for individual or institutional donations, potentially through targeted campaigns or partnerships with organizations with similar goals.

Knowledge sharing and support

• Capacity building on the journal publishing process, legal administration processes, best practices to the journal staff and  editorial teams.
• Ongoing training for editorial staff to stay current on best editorial practices, technological trends, and developments in the publishing field.
• Training workshops on best practices, OJS management, academic writing, peer review process, indexing process, and journal management.
• Emphasis on social responsibility initiatives such as promoting diversity and inclusion, educational programs, and making research more accessible to a broader audience. 
• Exploring additional means of generating income, such as partnerships with businesses, philanthropic donations, or the creation of related services (workshops, training, etc.).
• Development of a business model and training or guidance to develop a business plan that will work under the constraints of a Diamond OA publishing model.
• Exploring new technologies, most of which are situated in Europe or the USA and are expensive for African journals. It would be good if those corporations could adapt their business models for the African market. 
• Institutional support from research institutions or funding bodies using grants or subsidies to specifically support the publication of research in Global South OA journals.