University of Ottawa Library increases its support of the Partnership for Open Access

October 19, 2026

Books
Initiative will support open access publishing and knowledge dissemination in French through Érudit platform

With the University of Ottawa committed to strengthening French-language knowledge dissemination, including promoting open access publishing, the University Library is pleased to announce that it’s increasing its support for the Partnership for Open Access (POA), and will make an important additional contribution to the POA’s Open Access Acceleration Fund.

Established in 2014 by Érudit, in collaboration with the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, the partnership provides funding fornon-commercial scholarly journals and enables open access publishing in Canada. The partnership is based on an open access model that does not charge fees to either readers or authors referred to as “diamond open access.”

Thanks to the commitment of library partners and the support of stakeholders within the research ecosystem, the POA enables the publication of more than 2,500 scholarly articles in diamond open access per year1 and provides funding to more than 290 Canadian non-commercial scholarly journals published in English or French, with, as it claims, 60+ flips made possible with help from the POA.2 

The uOttawa Library is one of six POA champions libraries.3 This mean we also make an extra contribution to the Open Access Acceleration Fund, in addition to our regular Canadian Research Knowledge Network contribution. This extra contribution increases the financial support provided to diamond open access journals on the Érudit platform.

For Talia Chung, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, this initiative has the advantage of aligning with the uOttawa Library’s strategic priorities, namely, supporting open access and knowledge dissemination in French: 

“Érudit’s work is at the heart of Canada’s efforts to preserve a non-commercial scholarly publishing environment. The University of Ottawa Library is proud to be among Érudit’s long-standing partners, whether through our current participation through consortium agreements with the Canadian Research Knowledge Network or through additional voluntary contributions we make each year. This lasting support over time is a good illustration of our commitment to knowledge dissemination in French, as well as to diamond open access publishing.” — Talia Chung, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries

Talia Chung
“The University of Ottawa recognizes the great value of Érudit’s work and is delighted to support its efforts to promote and disseminate scholarly knowledge in Canada, particularly in French.”

Talia Chung

— University Librarian and Dean of Libraries

Supporting knowledge creation at uOttawa

The University of Ottawa is proud to contribute to open access dissemination of knowledge created by its own researchers through this partnership with CRKN and Érudit, says Chung: 

“Through this additional contribution to the POA, the Library is proud to support University of Ottawa researchers who chose open access, particularly those who wish to publish in French. It’s important that members of our research community have access to publishing opportunities without processing charges, as well as a more equitable research ecosystem.” — Talia Chung, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, University of Ottawa. 

These remarks echo those of Érudit Executive Director Tanja Niemann:

“We would like to express our sincerest thanks to the University of Ottawa Library for its generosity and active involvement in supporting diamond open access scholarly journals, which are disseminated without charge to publishers and readers. This contribution to the Partnership for Open Access directly supports over 200 journals with roots in Canadian research communities, including in the University of Ottawa.” — Tanja Niemann, Érudit Executive Director

In fact, many Francophone and bilingual journals published by uOttawa researchers are funded by POA. They include Reflet : Revue d’intervention sociale et communautaire, Cahiers Charlevoix, Cahiers de l’ILOB / OLBI Journal, Aporia : The Nursing Journal / Aporia : La revue en sciences infirmières, Culture and Local Governance /Culture et gouvernance localeand theOttawa Law Review / Revue de droit d’Ottawa. 

The Centre de recherche sur les francophonies canadiennes (CRCCF), an archival centre affiliated with the uOttawa Faculty of Arts, also publishes three POA-supported journals: @nalyses, Francophonies d’Amériqueand Mens : revue d’histoire intellectuelle et culturelle. Olivier Lagueux, CRCCF Publications Manager, describes the importance of this additional contribution to the Open Access Acceleration Fund: 

“The CRCCF now publishes three scholarly journals on Érudit, including one available in diamond open access. By supporting the Open Access Acceleration Fund, our university library is helping ensure that fairer royalties are paid to this journal. It’s also making a potential move to open access easier to achieve for our two other periodicals, which will increase the visibility and availability of our research on North American Francophone communities to a greater number of researchers around the world.” — Olivier Lagueux, Publications Manager, Centre de recherche sur les francophonies canadiennes, University of Ottawa

The uOttawa Library’s support for the POA and the Open Access Acceleration Fund also aligns with the Open Science Roadmap: Report by the Open Science Working Group, University of Ottawa (2024), which recommends “[c]ontinuing to prioritize Library funding for support of French publishing initiatives like French-language OA books through uO Press, Érudit, Coalition Publica, and the  support of French and French-English bilingual journals.”4

Érudit is also a platform of choice for publication in French at the University of Ottawa. Indeed, after studying publication data for 2013 to 2021, the Open Science Working Group, came to this conclusion: 

“A comparison of OA articles published in French by uOttawa authors in WoS and Érudit highlights the significance of the Érudit platform for increasing the visibility of francophone research. Notably, the number of OA publications by uOttawa authors continues to grow on Érudit (see Figure A1).”5

Graph
Figure A1. A comparison of articles published in French by uOttawa authors indexed in Érudit and Web of Science in 2022. Note that data for 2022 was not available for Érudit at the time of analysis.[6]

By publishing on this platform, University of Ottawa authors enable their work to achieve international exposure among the broad Francophone academic community and the “five million users who consult the publications disseminated by Érudit”7 each year. 

As the uOttawa Open Science Working Group notes, Érudit remains an essential platform for French-language publication, and allows the University of Ottawa to fulfill its mission regarding the Francophonie, bilingualism and knowledge dissemination in French: 

“Canada is well-positioned to contribute to efforts to strengthen multilingualism in research with infrastructure like Érudit and Coalition Publica. Even more, uOttawa can take leadership by leveraging its core bilingual mission, and ensure the ongoing support, creation, and dissemination of francophone research.”8

Paving the way to diamond open access

 The University of Ottawa Library has committed to supporting the Partnership for Open Access, as it remains an essential link for research in Canada. However, despite the POA’s significant contribution to the research sector, funding of open access remains tenuous, as the External Advisory Panel on the Creation and Dissemination of Scientific Information in French notes in its report, titled Research in French and Substantive Equality: An Opportunity. In this document, released on May 8, 2026, the experts appointed by the Government of Canada argue that the POA provides support to a significant number of Canadian journals, but that:

“On average, journals that have transitioned to open access (mostly diamond open access) receive $4,000 annually through this initiative. This amount is insufficient to offset the revenue losses resulting from the disappearance of subscriptions. Universities are required to compensate for this by continuing to support journals, but this is far from a panacea, especially in minority settings, where institutions are working with limited funding.”9

The External Advisory Panel adds: 

“In addition to a concentration of investment, the Advisory Panel has noted a lack of public engagement in knowledge-dissemination infrastructures. Scholarly journals, university presses and digital platforms, such as Érudit, are being weakened by the current open-access business model, which, in the absence of adequate public support, deprives publishers of vital revenue.”10

Given this situation, the additional contribution of the University of Ottawa Library to the Open Access Acceleration Fund is more than welcome, as Clare Appavoo, Executive Director of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, says: 

“This outstanding contribution represents both a significant investment and a powerful testament to open access in Canada. It reflects a shared recognition of the importance of non-commercial publishing, led by the community, and it comes at a crucial time for ensuring the sustainability of these initiatives and the infrastructure that supports them.” — Clare Appavoo, Executive Director, Canadian Research Knowledge Network

These considerations have become even more important since the publication, on October 5, 2026, of the new Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications (2026). Under this new policy, “peer-reviewed articles resulting from research funded by Canada's three federal funding agencies [Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)] must be freely available, without subscription or fee, at the time of publication.”11

With the implementation of this new policy in January 2027, diamond open access publishing is set to accelerate, which may have an impact on the infrastructure that supports it—infrastructure that is, incidentally, often supported by university libraries.

In this regard, Tanja Niemann, Érudit Executive Director, makes a point of highlighting the depth of the University of Ottawa Library’s commitment to open access and its infrastructure: 

“The uOttawa Library is doing remarkable work through its services to assist open access journals and hosting the Open Journal Systems platform, which benefits many journals accessed through erudit.org. Independent and varied, these journals reflect the linguistic diversity and the vitality of research conducted in Canada and beyond.” — Tanja Niemann, Érudit Executive Director

Finally, it’s important to remember that in the Canadian context, a commitment to diamond open access is also a commitment to French-language scholarship. For, as Beth et al note in Érudit’s Tisser des savoirs : le rôle des infrastructures numériques dans la bibliodiversité et la science en françaisbrief submitted to the External Advisory Panel on the Creation and Dissemination of Scientific Information in French (July 2025): 

“Diamond open access, a no-fee model for both authors and readers, is one of the most equitable paths to ensuring the dissemination and vitality of Francophone scholarly publications.”12

Works Cited

[1] Data provided by Érudit.

[2] Data provided by Érudit.

[3] Érudit, “The POA.” 

[4] Chung et al., Open Science Roadmap, 15 (2.4.2 “Recommendation D.2: Francophonie and bilingualism”). 

[5] Chung et al., Open Science Roadmap, 29. 

[6] Chung et al., Open Science Roadmap, 30. 

[7] Beth et al., Tisser des savoirs, 2. 

[8] Chung et al., Open Science Roadmap, 34. 

[9] Cardinal et al., Research in French and Substantive Equality (4.3.1 “Open access”).

[10] Cardinal et al., Research in French and Substantive Equality (“Executive summary”).

[11] Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada,The Government of Canada makes research more accessible for Canadians [press release]. This new policy will only apply to agency grants and Chair awards awarded on or after January 1, 2027.

[12] Beth et al., Tisser les savoirs, 4.

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