We’re celebrating two years of Open Research Europe – the innovative open access publishing venue launched by the European Commission to support Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, Euratom, and COST action-funded researchers.
In honor of the second anniversary, we’re reflecting on some of the achievements and milestones of Open Research Europe so far, and how it continues to support the European research community.
A new ethos
The European Commission launched Open Research Europe to champion a new publishing model that centers greater quality, integrity, collaboration, and transparency compared to traditional models.
This is done in several ways:
- Publishing all articles open access for greater transparency and improved dissemination of knowledge
- Article publication pre-peer review to ensure findings remain relevant and avoid lengthy delays found in traditional models
- Publishing all reviewer names and comments for greater transparency, increased opportunities for learning, and to reduce the possibility of bias and to give reviewers the credit they deserve
- Improving access to all underlying data, software, and code in the spirit of true open research, and to increase transparency, reproducibility, and confidence in findings
- Supporting all research outputs across the full research journey through a number of article types, regardless of novelty or perceived interest
- Maintaining rigorous editorial standards and research integrity through an in-house editorial team
Open Research Europe removes author-facing article processing charges as barriers to open access publication; allows for equal access to knowledge for researchers, citizens, and wider stakeholders alike; and encourages the open circulation of knowledge and research to accelerate the pace of discovery.
Publishing highlights
In the past two years, over 1,800 authors from 340 different institutions and 45 different countries have published their research with Open Research Europe, with over 340 articles covering everything from battery performance for electric vehicles to Renaissance shipbuilding.
Authors have fully embraced the ability to publish research outputs at every stage of the research journey through the different article types supported by the platform, with 50% of research published as a traditional Research Article and the other 50% made up of non-traditional article types such as Method Articles and Open Letters.
Open Research Europe has also supported researchers across all disciplines since 2021, including HSS researchers, with HSS articles making up 34% of all research published on the platform.
Discover all the research published on Open Research Europe.
Recognised for research and editorial integrity
One of the key achievements for Open Research Europe since its launch is its indexation in 10 major databases – a fantastic feat within just two years.
Most recently accepted for indexation in PubMed Central, this builds on 2022’s successes with indexing in Scopus, ERIH PLUS, and Inspec, as well as achieving the DOAJ seal within its first year of publishing.
These achievements are a testament to both Open Research Europe’s commitment to editorial and research integrity, requiring that our editorial standards pass stringent tests, and the quality of research already being published on the platform.
“By indexing our publishing platform, it not only acknowledges the high standards we apply at Open Research Europe but also reinforces the idea that adhering to Open Science principles is the path forward. We are excited to continue expanding Open Research Europe and establish it as the go-to destination for transparent publishing and accessing top-quality research.”
Michael Arentoft, Head of Open Science Unit, Directorate-General for Research & Innovation, European Commission
Contributing to changes in research assessment
Open Research Europe and its stakeholders are committed to contributing to the ongoing changes in research assessment worldwide, ensuring that research is measured on its intrinsic value rather than publication venue or author reputation, and that all researchers have equal publishing opportunities.
We support this through several elements of our publishing platform.
Firstly, our editors focus on the validity of findings and soundness of science and methods when assessing submissions, and all research that passes these checks will be published regardless of novelty of research, perceived level of interest, or author reputation.
Secondly, this means we publish all research outputs, from traditional Research Articles to Method Articles and Data Notes, which not only ensures transparency across the full research project, but also enables researchers to be credited for all of their work. This also extends to null, negative, or confirmatory studies.
Thirdly, Open Research Europe focuses on article-level metrics such as views, citations, and downloads as a measure of research impact, and doesn’t support journal-level metrics such as journal impact factor, to place greater value on the research itself. Since its launch, research published on Open Research Europe has amassed over 28,000 article views, over 7,000 article downloads, over 400 article citations.
Some of these citations include coverage in news outlets such as Forbes and the Columbia Journalism Review, and in policy documents of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Our stakeholders and collaborators also play a key role in contributing to changes in research assessment, with Toma Susi, a member of the Open Research Europe Scientific Advisory Board, recently elected to the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment Steering Board.
Read more about Open Research Europe’s role in reforming research assessment.
An expert advisory board
Our team of expert advisors are central to Open Research Europe, acting as ambassadors of the platform to the global academic community and providing constructive input and guidance on publishing policies, strategic direction, sustainability of the platform, and challenges our researchers may face.
With 22 Scientific Advisory Board Members at the beginning, our advisory group has grown to include 28 Scientific Advisory Board Members, 43 Community Gateway Advisors and 89 Collection Advisors over the past two years, helping to ensure the quality and direction of content on Open Research Europe aligns with our key values.
In 2022 alone, we launched 33 Community Gateways led by 37 advisors – all active researchers producing high-quality work within their respective fields.
These Community Gateways provide dedicated spaces within Open Research Europe for research in a particular broad discipline, with topics varying from Animal and Dairy Science to Nanotechnology.
We’ll be speaking to a number of our Community Gateway Advisors in our next blog to get their insights on what Open Research Europe means for researchers, the future direction of scholarly publishing and open research, and how Open Research Europe can continue to meet changing needs.
Start your publishing journey
Open Research Europe will continue to evolve to meet the challenges of the global research community, as well as ongoing changes in the open research landscape.
If you’re ready to join the hundreds of EC-funded researchers already publishing their findings with Open Research Europe, discover the full benefits of Open Research Europe today.
