Digital resources in the Social Sciences and Humanities OpenEdition Our platforms OpenEdition Books OpenEdition Journals Hypotheses Calenda Libraries OpenEdition Freemium Follow us

EDCH Training – the Diamond open access online training platform launched by OpenEdition

Committed to developing open scholarly publishing in Europe, OpenEdition is actively involved in the new European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH) dedicated to Diamond open access (Diamond OA) publishing. As part of this initiative, OpenEdition launched the EDCH Training platform on 28 May 2025. This platform provides free access to a range of training modules on Diamond OA for scholarly publishing in Europe. Its foundational course is built around the Diamond Open Access Standard (DOAS) to help journals transition towards this publishing model that charges no fees to authors or readers. Beyond the benefits for the European scholarly community, EDCH Training will also serve as a standard for developing OpenEdition’s training platform launched in 2023.

Karla Avanço, OPERAS Community Manager at OpenEdition, along withLaurent Delvalle andMarguerite Jan, instructional designers at OpenEdition, talked to us about this project and its impact on OpenEdition Training.

The European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH) is a collaborative project launched in 2025 as a natural successor to the DIAMAS and CRAFT-OA projects. Its goal is to ease the transition to an open and non-commercial publishing model that charges no fees to authors or readers.
Initially funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the EDCH is made up of several European organizations, including Open Edition, which are organized into six working groups. It offers an ecosystem of services built around the Diamond Open Access Standard (DOAS): self-assessment tools, resources and guidelines, training (EDCH Training), a registry, a forum, and an upcoming service for exploring Diamond OA journals.
OpenEdition and Jisc jointly coordinate the ‘Skills and Competences’ working group, which is tasked with developing and expanding training and guidance to serve the European Diamond OA community.
  • What can you tell us about the EDCH Training platform developed by OpenEdition?

Laurent Delvalle: The platform we have developed is designed to offer a range of multimodal training courses built around Diamond OA publishing. In its current form, it provides tools for exploring the training on offer (an Explore page with search filters). Anyone can register for an account to take the course inspired by the DIAMAS project, which includes learning materials based on DOAS content. Everyone who registers can sign up for the training module they want and keep track of their progress via a customized dashboard.

The next step will be to provide a support and assistance service for trainers and experts who want to devise their own training modules on topics or themes linked to the Diamond model or Diamond publishing practices. We will be handing over the reins during this phase, which is essential as future training will be designed for and with the help of the Diamond OA community and committed stakeholders.

Trainers will receive both technical and teaching support to helping them decide which training methods to apply (e.g. webinars, self-paced learning with, or without, tutoring), which content format or learning materials to use, and how to roll out the training (registration methods, organizing the webinars, making additional learning materials available, etc.).

We will also provide ways of promoting new training courses, through public spaces on the platform (Home page, Explore page) or via EDCH communication channels.

For the service to flourish over time, we need to build the platform in partnership with stakeholders who have Diamond OA expertise. This is key to ensuring training meets the needs and requirements of learners.

  • Why did you choose to build a training course based on the DOAS?

Marguerite Jan: Designed as a common standard for Diamond OA publishing in Europe, the DOAS has become the go-to framework for all EDCH services.

The standard is not simply a collection of theories and rules: it is based on feedback from workshops, consultations and self-assessments involving publishers and experts from the sector. This collaborative approach helped identify genuine needs, stumbling blocks and tried-and-tested solutions.

Building a training course based on this standard guarantees a comprehensive and coherent approach that takes all the challenges of the sector into account, and also offers a shared framework for adopting good practices.

And to come full circle, our training course complements the other EDCH services by providing essential step-by-step learning and guidance: publishing teams need to develop their skills progressively, with interactive content adapted to their level. The DIAMAS training course is the first cornerstone for EDCH Training, because it offers structured modules to help learners steadily adopt good practices.

  • How is the course structured?

Marguerite Jan: The DIAMAS course is made up of 14 theme-based modules that can be studied in order or on a pick-and-choose basis, to suit individual needs. The course begins with a general introduction. Each module then covers a specific aspect of DOAS in detail, such as funding, governance, copyright management, metadata, and diversity and inclusion.

The learning resources come in a variety of formats, such as interactive sessions, infographics, self-assessment guides and so on. They are accompanied by a glossary, which explains all the technical terms, and a final questionnaire, which is used to improve the course through feedback and help participants evaluate their progress.

  • The OpenEdition training interface is set to align with the EDCH Training platform. What is going to change? What are the next steps?

Laurent Delvalle: That’s right, we are going to draw on the experience of developing the EDCH Training platform to offer an improved version of the OpenEdition training platform.

In practice, improvements will be visible on two levels:

– User experience: the home page will be redesigned to present our training offer in a more user-friendly way, to guide visitors towards training that matches their needs and interests. A new page for exploring our training courses will be created, with search facets to help visitors find the methods and content that best meet their requirements.

– Tailored learning: our online training offer is currently made up of a range of comprehensive trainer-led courses, with one learning module leading on to the next. However, not everyone needs to take all the modules, especially if they are already proficient and simply need to refresh their knowledge in specific areas. The new platform will make it easier to offer on-request training modules, or additional modules tailored to a specific audience, to take account of the varying needs and requirements of qualified individuals.

  • Why is OpenEdition taking part in this European initiative?

Karla Avanço: OpenEdition has been an open access pioneer in France for 25 years now, and is actively involved in numerous European and international initiatives. Our contribution to the EDCH is part of this openness strategy, especially as the Diamond model is increasingly gaining recognition from organizations such as the European Commission and UNESCO.

OpenEdition’s commitment to the EDCH makes us part of a network that fosters links between national and international levels. It is an opportunity to establish connections between French expertise developed over the years and the emerging needs and challenges faced at European level. This collaborative approach means we can contribute to building a European open scholarly publishing ecosystem while also benefiting from the synergies created with our European partners.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
OpenEdition team (July 11, 2025). EDCH Training – the Diamond open access online training platform launched by OpenEdition. Open Electronic Publishing. Retrieved November 7, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/14l70


You may also like...