Open science is gaining momentum in today’s research landscape. With more authors interested in the accessibility, reproducibility and transparency of their work, they need to consider where to publish their academic outputs. Launched by the European Commission in March 2021, Open Research Europe (ORE) publishes results originating from EC-funded research. ORE is a peer-reviewed publishing service that advocates for the principles of open science by offering eligible authors an efficient, impactful, and stress-free option for publishing their research in full compliance with the open access requirements set out in their grant agreement.

 Since 2021 Open Research Europe has experienced many successes and the platform has gone from strength to strength. Hundreds of papers have been published on the platform with so far, and articles published on ORE accepted for indexing in Scopus, Google Scholar and PubMed, among others.

How open is Open Research Europe?

The answer is – very open indeed! All the policies are clearly described on the website, including details on price transparency, explaining what the article processing charge that the European Commission pays is used for. Some examples of openness on ORE includes accepting a diverse array of content, requiring that any associated data be made openly accessible alongside the articles, and employing open peer review as part of the publishing model.

A huge amount of work goes into every research project, and too often much of that work never makes it into the final Research Article. Perhaps it does not fit the narrative of your Research Article, or maybe the word limit is too restrictive. This can lead to this work being left unshared, despite the value it may still have to other researchers. If others were able to utilize this research, it may still influence any work they are planning or prevent them from unknowingly, and perhaps unnecessarily, repeating the work. Open Research Europe offers authors the opportunity to share their work as a variety of article types; providing the option to publish every aspect of their research project, from conception to the final Research Article.

Publishing other outputs other than Research Articles allows for a much deeper analysis and discussion of each stage of the project and, subsequently, a much richer academic discussion. This is particularly relevant for Method Articles as the method section of a Research Article is often shortened. Research Articles play a vital role in the research journey, but by focussing only on them, we undermine the value of other outputs that can be published as diverse article types. Traditionally, Research Articles make up the majority of publications across all disciplines, with journals prioritizing these more than anything else. However, in Open Research Europe, they represent 51% of all articles with the other 49% consisting of a variety of other formats that can be published throughout the lifecycle of a project, making it more open and transparent.

Open data

Open data means freely and openly sharing any information or materials that have been collected, created, or reused as part of a research project. It can take many forms including survey results, observational data, gene sequences, archival material, photographs, software, code, neuro-images, and audio files. All fields produce data that researchers can make openly available, from medicine and health to humanities and social sciences. Choosing to publish data openly benefits not only the research team, but also the wider research community and society as a whole.

By providing access to comprehensive information about data, source materials, and code, other researchers can more easily reproduce the research step-by-step. This can help to corroborate the findings and, in turn, build trust in the results. When others can replicate and validate research, it ensures that conclusions are built upon a firm foundation. In turn, this boosts the credibility of research and robustness within the research community and with stakeholders. Similarly, sharing data and supporting information openly provides opportunities for richer feedback during peer review. Researchers can identify opportunities for collaboration with others who are interested in the data.

In line with the European Commission’s funding policies, ORE’s open data policy supports the FAIR Data principles as a framework to promote the broadest reuse of research data and secure its longevity. Our open data guidelines aims to ensure that research data is made ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’, which is fully aligned with the open data policies of Horizon Europe. This means that all data and supporting materials must be shared unless there are commercial, privacy, security, or confidentiality concerns.

Open peer review

Open peer review is one format of peer review. There are many different varieties of open review practices, so not all open peer review processes look the same. Open practices can include:

• Open identities: Authors and reviewers are aware of each other’s identities
• Open reports: Review reports are published alongside the relevant article
• Open participation: The wider scholarly community can contribute to the review process
• Open interaction: Direct reciprocal discussion between author(s) and reviewers, and/or between reviewers, is allowed and encouraged
• Open pre-print manuscripts: Manuscripts are made immediately available (e.g., via pre-print servers like arXiv) in advance of any formal peer review procedures
• Open final version commenting: Reviewing or commenting on final the “version of record”
• Open platforms (“decoupled review”): Review is facilitated by a different organizational entity than the venue of publication

Fostering an open peer review model with transparency at the core of the model is increasing in popularity in academic publishing, and ORE is proud to be leading the charge into the future of peer review. Open peer review at ORE is:

• Post publication, with articles published before peer review is complete
• Fully open, with reviewer identities, affiliations, and reports being published alongside articles
• Applied across all outputs, including non-traditional article types such as Method Articles, Data Notes, Study Protocols, and more, and focuses on the soundness of science over author reputation or new developments
• Collaborative, with the option for editors and authors to work together to identify appropriate reviewers

One of the key benefits of post-publication peer review for academic research is its ability to speed up publishing times and subsequently accelerate research impact. Transparency in the peer review process adds accountability and gives credit to the reviewers by publicizing their names and reviews. Authors are also aware of who is reviewing their articles, which can help build the author’s trust in the feedback they receive and confirm the reviewer’s expertise.

Trials have shown that open reports tend to be more constructive, resulting in more impactful and higher quality research, while being a more positive experience for authors. ORE’s recent author survey supports this, showing that many of the authors who participated in the survey would publish with ORE again, as well as recommending ORE to their peers and colleagues.