Technological Governance for Diamond Open Access: A Modular Framework for Metadata Excellence and Scholarly Interoperability in University Journals

Diamond Open Access journals face increasing challenges in ensuring metadata quality, interoperability, persistent identification, digital preservation, and international visibility while operating with limited financial and technological resources. Although Open Journal Systems (OJS) provides a robust publishing platform, the absence of an integrated technological governance model can hinder the systematic coordination of scholarly communication infrastructures. This study proposes and evaluates a Technological Governance Framework for Diamond Open Access journals using a Design Science Research methodology. The framework is organized into five governance dimensions: metadata management, persistent identifiers, scholarly interoperability, digital preservation, and editorial technologies. To support the assessment of technological governance performance, five composite indicators were integrated into a Technological Governance Index (TGI). The framework was evaluated through its implementation in the Innovación y Software journal, demonstrating its practical feasibility within a real Diamond Open Access publishing environment. The implementation achieved high levels of metadata quality, persistent identifier adoption, preservation, and interoperability, with a TGI of 97.43%. The journal also received the inaugural Crossref Metadata Excellence Award in the New Members category in 2025, providing complementary evidence of the metadata quality achieved in the evaluated case study. Although the results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed governance model within the evaluated institutional context, further multi-journal studies are required to assess its transferability and broader applicability. The proposed framework provides a structured and measurable basis for coordinating technological capabilities in Diamond Open Access publishing and for future research on technological governance, metadata quality, interoperability, and digital sustainability.