As we approach the end of 2023, we’re reflecting on some of the achievements of Open Research Europe and its authors over the year, and exploring some of the highlights from our 2023 author survey.
Read on to find out more.
2023 in numbers
With Open Research Europe approaching its third anniversary in March 2024, the platform continues to go from strength to strength in supporting the European research community.
1,058 European Commission-funded authors have published 197 articles on Open Research Europe in 2023 at the time of writing, sharing insights across the breadth of Natural Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Medical Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences.
118 of these articles have passed peer review so far, going on to be indexed in PubMed Central, Scopus, and other major databases.
Articles published in 2023 have accrued over 12,721 views and over 2,300 downloads over the year – reflecting both the significant visibility of articles published on the platform and the benefits for authors in reaching wider audiences when publishing open access.
2023 author survey results
The European Commission and Open Research Europe team are committed to ensuring the platform meets the needs of its authors and wider research community, and seek to regularly collect feedback about experiences of the platform and how it can improve.
Discover the highlights from this year’s survey below.
Author career stage
169 authors provided responses in some form for the survey, 42% of respondents identifying as a Senior Researcher, 27% as an early career researcher, and 19% as a mid career researcher.
This is really promising to see, as Open Research Europe can provide opportunities and benefits for all career stages, but especially so for ECRs looking to build their publishing profile, gain editorial experience, and act as peer reviewers.
Where did authors hear about Open Research Europe?
Open Research Europe is still a relatively new publishing venue, having been launched in 2021, and the uptake of the platform is an ongoing process by the European Commission, the Open Research Europe team, and our partners.
Authors are now beginning to discover the platform in a number of different ways, suggesting Open Research Europe’s visibility is increasing among the European research community.
Why did authors choose to publish with Open Research Europe?
Open Research Europe has many benefits for eligible authors, from faster publication speed and open data to a variety of different, non-traditional article types.
When surveying our authors, they said that the following were the most important factors in choosing Open Research Europe:
- Lack of publication costs, with all APCs covered by the European Commission
- Open research practices, including open peer review and open data
- Exploring an alternative publishing venue to traditional journals
How was the publishing experience?
Understanding authors’ experience throughout the publishing process gives us valuable insights, enabling us to continue to provide efficient and high-quality editorial services for future authors.
When discussing the publishing experience, authors responded positively.
58% of respondents would publish with Open Research Europe again and 64% would recommend the platform to others.
Additionally, over 60% of respondents were satisfied with the process and thought the submission process was efficient.
Prepublication checks
Open Research Europe operates a post-publication peer review model, meaning that articles are published before peer review takes place. To ensure the quality of the papers published, every submission is subject to rigorous prepublication checks carried out by professional editors.
When surveying authors about their experiences of these prepublication checks, the majority of respondents agreed that they were happy, or very happy, with the checks, and 72% of authors agreed that these checks improved their article.
Open peer review
Open research practices, including open peer review, are central to Open Research Europe, and provide many benefits to authors.
Respondents were positive about the value of open peer review, with over half of respondents stating they prefer open peer review to closed peer review.
Additionally, the Open Research Europe peer review process itself was a positive experience for authors, with the majority of authors agreeing that the process was fair and rigorous, and that submission to publication time was quick.
Publishing metrics
Finally, we were keen to understand the types of publishing metrics that are important to authors when choosing where to publish their work.
While Impact Factor was still the second most important metric for authors, other article-level metrics like citations, views, and downloads were all in the top five.
This is great news for the Open Research Europe team, as we firmly believe in the value of research assessment reform, including responsible use of article-level metrics such as these.
In fact, the Open Research Europe platform does not have a JIF and will never seek to gain one, instead choosing to focus on the soundness of science, wider academic career opportunities, and individual merit of articles.
Read more about Open Research Europe and research assessment reform.
Looking to the future
We want to take this opportunity to thank all the authors and peer reviewers who have published and reviewed with Open Research Europe this year.
We would also like to thank all the authors who took the time to complete the 2023 survey. Your valuable feedback will help us better serve our research communities and provide knowledge for all.
We look forward to seeing more cutting-edge research published in 2024 and welcoming more authors to the platform.
