For over 8 years, the Coalition Publica partnership between Érudit and the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) has been a force in consolidating support for Canada’s open access scholarly publishing communities.
We sat down with Tanja Niemann, Executive Director of Érudit, and Kevin Stranack, Director of Operations for PKP, to trace the origins and opportune coming together of two vital Canadian infrastructures, while also looking ahead to the future. Through their collaboration, Coalition Publica has helped establish Diamond Open Access leadership in Canada and shaped the global conversation on open, sustainable, scholar-led publishing communities.
“To be part of Coalition Publica is to be part of a group that works to convene communities around a vision for a future that is equitable, open, and collaborative. By coming together to build Diamond Open Access in Canada, we contribute to an international movement to reclaim research as a public good.”– Jeanette Hatherill, Senior Coordinator, Coalition Publica
Let’s start at the beginning. When was Coalition Publica born, and what brought it to life? Who was involved in those early days?
Coalition Publica was launched in 2018 as a collaborative initiative between Érudit and PKP, two university-based Canadian organizations deeply committed to open access and digital scholarly publishing. The partnership aimed to create a robust, non-commercial infrastructure to support journals in the humanities and social sciences, particularly those transitioning to sustainable open access models.
Érudit, the consortium formed by Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and Université du Québec à Montréal, had long been a leader in disseminating francophone research, while PKP, founded at the University of British Columbia and later housed at Simon Fraser University, developed the widely used Open Journal Systems (OJS). By combining Érudit’s dissemination platform with PKP’s editorial tools, Coalition Publica offered a comprehensive solution for scholarly publishing.
The initiative received early support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), as well as backing from the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). From its inception, Coalition Publica has emphasized community-driven values, working closely with libraries, researchers, and journal editors to strengthen Canada’s scholarly ecosystem.
Coalition Publica exists at the nexus of so many publishing communities across Canada. Can you tell us a bit about these independent and interdependent publishing communities?
Coalition Publica serves as a central hub for a diverse array of decentralized scholarly and cultural publishing communities across Canada, particularly those focused on the humanities and social sciences. These communities include university and society-based journals, library publishing programs, and culturally specific initiatives such as francophone publications. Most operate independently, driven by local academic priorities and community values, yet they share a commitment to open access and scholarly integrity.
Despite their independence, these groups are deeply interdependent. Coalition Publica provides shared infrastructure combining Érudit’s dissemination platform with PKP’s OJS that enables journals to publish, manage, and distribute research efficiently. Along with libraries and journals, we collaborate on publishing services, funding models, metadata standards, and digital preservation, with Coalition Publica often acting as a facilitator and advocate for sustainable, non-commercial publishing.
This interconnected ecosystem fosters collaboration across linguistic, disciplinary, and institutional boundaries. Coalition Publica helps unify these efforts, supporting 147 journals that use its combined infrastructure as of 2025 (119 of which are Diamond OA), soon to reach 161 in 2026 (131 of which will be Diamond OA). We also support hundreds more by promoting equitable access to research beyond the combined infrastructure. By bridging independent initiatives with national coordination, it strengthens Canada’s scholarly publishing landscape and amplifies the voices of its research communities.
Canada is often described as a leader in Diamond Open Access publishing. What defines the Canadian approach, and what challenges remain?
Canada has emerged as a global leader in Diamond Open Access, a model where scholarly publishing is free for both authors and readers and is non-commercial and scholar-led in nature. This success stems from a robust ecosystem of university and society-based journals, library publishing programs, and platforms like Érudit and the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), which provide open-source tools and infrastructure for more than a quarter of a century.
The Canadian approach is also notable for its bilingual inclusivity, supporting both English and French publications, as well as other languages, and for its emphasis on equity and accessibility. Many journals are hosted by academic institutions and run by scholars, students, or learned societies, reflecting a decentralized but collaborative publishing culture. Government agencies like SSHRC, CFI, and Fonds de Recherche du Québec have provided key funding, reinforcing the public-good orientation of Canadian publishing.
This funding is further strengthened by the CRKN–Érudit Partnership for Open Access, a national agreement that enables libraries to financially support Diamond Open Access journals on the Érudit platform as well as those hoping to transition to this model. Through this partnership, journals receive operational funding and, thanks to Coalition Publica’s infrastructure support, these journals can operate at lower costs without charging fees to authors or readers.
Our approach is also unique in the development of the Érudit research corpus, which provides centralized access to over 250,000 scholarly articles in the Coalition Publica collection, many of them in French, and serves as a vital resource for researchers, libraries, and the public. This corpus not only amplifies Canadian scholarship but also ensures long-term preservation and discoverability of open access content.
Despite this vital financial support and strong infrastructure, however, challenges remain. Funding is uneven across provinces and institutions, and many journals rely on volunteer labour or precarious support. While Coalition Publica has improved coordination, there’s still a need for national policy frameworks and long-term financial models to ensure sustainability.
The Canada Foundation for Innovation recognizes Coalition Publica as a Major Science Initiative, one of only 19 research facilities of national importance in the country. What does that recognition mean for Coalition Publica?
Being named a Major Science Initiative by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) affirms Coalition Publica’s national importance and secures long-term funding to support its infrastructure, operations, and impact on Canadian research.
This designation places Coalition Publica among an elite group of research facilities recognized for their critical role in advancing Canada’s scientific and scholarly landscape. It means that Coalition Publica is not just a publishing platform; it is a national research infrastructure essential to the production, dissemination, and preservation of Canadian scholarship, especially in the humanities and social sciences.
With this recognition, Coalition Publica received a $10 million grant from CFI’s Major Science Initiatives Fund for 2023-2029, which supports the ongoing operation and maintenance of facilities that enable world-class research. This funding, coupled with a $9 million grant from SSHRC over the same period, allows Coalition Publica to strengthen its digital services, expand its support for open access journals, and enhance its bilingual publishing infrastructure. It also helps ensure that Canadian researchers have equitable access to sustainable, non-commercial publishing tools.
Importantly, this recognition validates the work of the hundreds of journals, libraries, and scholars that Coalition Publica supports. It elevates the visibility of Canadian humanities and social sciences research internationally and reinforces Canada’s leadership in Diamond Open Access publishing.
Why does bibliodiversity, or the diversity of published content and perspectives, hold particular importance in Canada?
Bibliodiversity is vital in Canada because it reflects the country’s linguistic, cultural, and regional diversity, ensuring that scholarly publishing represents a wide range of voices, disciplines, and communities.
Canada’s scholarly landscape is uniquely multilingual and multicultural, with strong traditions in both English and French publishing, as well as growing support for Indigenous and community-based scholarship. Bibliodiversity helps ensure that research reflects this richness. It allows scholars to publish in their own languages, address local and regional issues, and engage with audiences beyond dominant global publishing norms.
This diversity is especially important in the humanities and social sciences, where context, language, and cultural specificity matter deeply. Canadian journals often focus on regional studies, Indigenous knowledge, and bilingual scholarship, which is extremely relevant to Canadian society but might be overlooked in commercial publishing systems. Supporting bibliodiversity means valuing smaller and independent journals, many of which operate within universities or libraries and rely on open access models.
Canada has a strong history of supporting public infrastructures. What will it take to sustain scholarly publishing infrastructure?
Canada’s scholarly publishing infrastructure thrives on public investment and community collaboration, but sustaining it for the long-term will require deeper coordination and stable funding. Platforms like Coalition Publica have enabled hundreds of journals to operate under Diamond Open Access models. These systems reflect Canada’s broader commitment to public infrastructure and equitable access to knowledge.
To maintain this momentum, Canada needs multi-year operational funding that goes beyond project-based grants. Recognizing initiatives like Coalition Publica as Major Science Initiatives is a step in the right direction, but broader national policies and a national Open Science roadmap are needed to align the efforts of policy makers, funders, libraries, and academic institutions. This includes shared standards for metadata, preservation, and reporting, as well as support for multilingual and community-led publishing.
Libraries play a crucial role in hosting and supporting journals, and investing in their publishing programs and recognizing their contributions as part of national infrastructure will be key. Ultimately, sustaining scholarly publishing in Canada means treating it as a public good — valuing quality, diversity, accessibility, integrity, and long-term resilience as markers of impact as opposed to over commercial impact metrics such as quantity of outputs and “prestige value”.
How has Coalition Publica’s mission evolved since the early days, and where do you see it heading in the coming years?
Coalition Publica’s mission has grown significantly since its founding in 2018. Initially focused on building a shared infrastructure for open access journal publishing in the humanities and social sciences. This technical foundation laid the groundwork for a broader vision: to foster a sustainable, community-led scholarly publishing ecosystem.
Over time, Coalition Publica has evolved into a national coordinator and advocate for Diamond Open Access, bibliodiversity, and multilingual publishing. It now supports 147 journals (soon to reach 161 in 2026), provides training and technical assistance, and conducts research into publishing practices. Its recognition as a Major Science Initiative by the Canada Foundation for Innovation underscores its importance as a public infrastructure.
Looking ahead, Coalition Publica is poised to grow its services, deepen partnerships with libraries and funders, expand into other formats, such as books, and into other disciplines, including the natural and health sciences, and influence national policy on scholarly communication. Its future lies in strengthening Canada’s leadership in equitable, open publishing while ensuring long-term sustainability for the journals and communities it serves.
