Written by CERN, OPERAS and the European Commission
The next phase for Open Research Europe is just around the corner. The platform itself will function in exactly the same way as before for authors, reviewers, and readers. ORE will continue to accept the same content types with the same, slightly updated policies and processes. However, the governance and infrastructure behind the platform are evolving towards a collaborative model.
While ORE originally was the European Commission’s publication platform, it will now evolve towards a non-for-profit collective undertaking supported by 17 research funding and performing organisations from across Europe. For the period 2026 to 2031, a budget of over €16 million has been allocated, co-funded 60% by the European Commission and 40% by the other funding organisations. This will provide researchers from 11 countries, as well as all EU-funded beneficiaries, access to a collectively governed no-fee open access publishing platform that provides transparent editorial services for a wide range of research outputs.
ORE will soon be hosted and operated by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and birthplace of the World Wide Web. CERN’s role here builds on its long-standing experience in developing and maintaining open science infrastructures and community-governed services for the global research community. By hosting ORE, CERN will provide a reliable, trusted, and sustainable environment, drawing on expertise gained through flagship open science initiatives such as Zenodo, Invenio, and SCOAP3. The future ORE is built on Open Journal Systems (OJS), a free, open source software for the management of peer-reviewed academic journals, created and maintained by the Public Knowledge Project, and widely used by Diamond Open Access journals worldwide. All new OJS functions and features developed specifically for ORE will be made freely available to all other journals using the software, transferring value to the wider scholarly publishing community.
ORE’s next phase also requires a new governance structure. In addition to the day-to-day management of the platform by the ORE Secretariat at CERN, ORE’s operations are guided by an Executive Committee and a Funders Group that set the direction, approve new members, and take strategic decisions. An independent Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) will advise ORE on scientific matters. SAB members will be announced in September following an open call for nominations earlier this summer.
Beyond its governance and infrastructure, the collaborative nature of Open Research Europe is reflected in its outreach efforts. Partnership with the OPERAS Research Infrastructure aims to maintain the well-established multidisciplinary nature of ORE by specifically engaging more researchers from the social sciences and humanities. Through this collaboration, ORE is also establishing closer ties with the European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH) and the existing ecosystem of Diamond journals, working towards shared standards and mutual visibility – efforts that aim to foster increased trust in open and no-fee publishing.
All of these adaptations build on the successful foundation of a platform that was originally built and managed for the European Commission by F1000, and that, to date, has attracted the research outputs of over 6300 authors. With the widening of eligibility criteria, ORE is now expecting to publish a growing number of research outputs all whilst ensuring rapid dissemination, trusted open peer review, and high production quality. However, the evolution of the platform does not mean that funders are becoming publishers. Rather funders have decided to invest in non-for profit public infrastructure with collective governance. Their goal is to make research more accessible and transparent while setting a benchmark for equitable and innovative scholarly communication in Europe and beyond.
