Government to Support Campuses as Journal Publication Fees Urged to Be Free

Relawan Jurnal Indonesia (RJI) is pushing for a major change in the governance of scientific publications by urging the elimination of Article Processing Charges (APC) for authors. During a national symposium, RJI promoted the Diamond Open Access model, where operational costs are fully borne by universities or academic communities. RJI Chairman Arbain noted that over 1,206 journals in Indonesia already do not charge authors, and the organisation hopes future government policy will expand this number while boosting the quality of national journals to compete internationally.

Responding to these aspirations, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemendiktisaintek) expressed alignment with the initiative. Secretary of the Directorate General of Science and Technology, Samsuri, stated that the government is committed to improving journal quality and integrity throughout the research, writing, peer review, and publishing process. The government is introducing the RINJANI programme, a support scheme designed to help journals improve their quality and gradually shift publication costs from individual authors to institutions.