On 13 May 2022, Open Research Europe held a webinar to hear directly from a selection of the Platform’s contributors. The panel included Kelly Woods, Senior Associate Publisher at Open Research Europe; Katalin Solymosi, Community Gateway Advisor, Cell, Molecular and Structural Biology; Toma Susi, Scientific Advisor; Emma Norris, Community Gateway Advisor, Psychology; Paul Cairney, Author & Community Gateway Advisor, Political Science; Johann-Mattis List, Reviewer.

The webinar began with Kelly Woods providing a brief overview of the Platform’s ambitions to support the operationalization of open science principles within academic publishing, ensuring transparency and cost-effectiveness and provide Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 beneficiaries with a high quality, reliable and efficient publishing venue for their research. She went on by providing an explanation of the Platform’s post-publication peer review model, and an overview of the key milestones from 2021 – 2022, including the launch of Community Gateways and Collections on Open Research Europe. Both outlets create thematic hubs accessible from the Platform, making it easier for researchers to find relevant articles in their research area.

In the past 12 months, articles published on Open Research Europe have contributed to over 15,000 views and 3,900 downloads, encompassing a variety of article types that range across a broad range of research areas.

Each panelist spoke about their motivations for becoming involved with the Platform. Professor Toma Susi spoke of his experience over the past ten years in being an active advocate for open science practices and how this meant he was eager to become a member of the Scientific Advisory Board. He felt that Open Research Europe is open science in action and the Platform helps to operationalize many of its aspects that he feels are important to ensure that research is reproducible and usable by others. Professor Susi also spoke of his experience as an author on the Platform; his Software Tool Article was one of the first published papers. Open Research Europe thus also bridges a gap in scholarly research and communication by providing an article type where researchers can disseminate this type of research and benefit from article versioning which allows authors to update their article with new code, data, or findings.

Assistant Professor Katalin Solymosi spoke of her involvement with several national and international early career researcher societies, including the Young Academy of Europe and the Hungarian Young Academy. Alongside her new Community Gateway Advisor role, she is also a Data Note author on Open Research Europe. The transparency of the peer review model, as well as the open data policy, encouraged Katalin to publish on Open Research Europe and she would like to raise awareness of open science practices in Central and Eastern Europe. Katalin highlighted the important role that early career researchers should play in shaping the future of open science.

Professor Paul Cairney was first drawn to the Platform to publish his Systematic Review, where he was pleasantly surprised that the word limit is more generous than in traditional journals. He was eager to get involved with the Platform because he saw the potential for the publication of non-traditional research outputs on Open Research Europe. He could also witness other benefits of Open Research Europe, such the post-publication peer review model, which allows for rapid and timely sharing of research.

Coming from a health psychology and behavior change background, Dr Emma Norris is trying to apply behavior change theories to promote open science across career stages and disciplines. She also chairs the European Health Psychology Society’s Open Science Special Interest Group. Over the last few years, promoting open science initiatives has become a focus of her career. Emma’s positive experience of the open peer review process comes from publishing papers on Wellcome Open Research. This experience influenced her decision to support Open Research Europe as both Platforms operate the same post-publication peer review model. Despite only being a Community Gateway Advisor role for a short time, Emma has already been working with her co-advisor, Dr Kait Clark, to develop the recently launched Experimental Psychology Collection and discussing how best to structure the new Open Research Europe Psychology Community Gateway.

Finally, Dr Johann-Mattis List told of his desire to make his research available in a timely manner while benefiting from the scholarly dialogue that comes through peer review and how this led him to publishing on Open Research Europe. He noted his support for open peer review as it encourages people to be fairer in their reviewer reports. He went on to highlight how it is important to have a venue that does not assess the potential impact of an article prior to publication, such as Open Research Europe, but that leaves this judgement in the hands of the scientific community. The second part of the webinar explored the key aspects of the Platform, such as the wide variety of article types, importance of reproducibility, and the benefit of the pre-publication checks. It also highlighted the importance of reforming research assessment to ensure that open science practices and a variety of outputs such as those supported by Open Research Europe are better recognized and rewarded in the future. The panelists also discussed what role Open Research Europe might play in the future scholarly communication landscape.

Check out the recording here to find out more from the panel.

Scholars from a diverse range of research areas attended the webinar and were eager to learn even more about the Platform. Below you can find questions with answers from the end of the webinar, including questions we did not have time to address:

How are reviewers selected?

Open Research Europe operates on an author-led model of peer review, meaning that the author provides suggestions of relevant experts he/she believes have the appropriate expertise to review the paper. These reviewers are then screened by the editorial team to check for conflicts of interest and to confirm the reviewers have the relevant experience to review the paper before being invited to provide their feedback, after the article is published on the Platform.

Why should someone choose to publish on Open Research Europe over an established, more recognized journal?

For some people, a commitment to open science would encourage them to submit to Open Research Europe as they can achieve open access without being subject to an article processing charge. But aside from this commitment, there are many reasons you might submit to Open Research Europe, including the open peer review process, the speed of publication, and the variety of article types. Ultimately, the best venue for each paper will vary and it is vital to consider what is important for your research and which publishing venue will best suit those needs.

Are there any plans for other funders within the EU to join ORE?

This is a very common question – it seems there is much interest from the research community to open the Platform up to more people than just those with Horizon 2020 and/or Horizon Europe funding. There are no plans to expand the Platform in this way as part of the current agreement between F1000 and the European Commission, which runs until 2024. However, funding for the future of the Platform has been confirmed and it will continue to run without disruption past the end of this current contract. The potential to open the Platform up to other funders has been discussed by the Open Research Europe Scientific Advisory Board and is under consideration for future iterations of Open Research Europe.

The final question of the webinar was not able to be answered during the event and is not one that can be answered by Open Research Europe or those who work on it.

Funders are increasingly interested in setting up their own publishing venues. How is this perceived in your research community?