Twenty-two expert researchers are appointed to Open Research Europe Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). This independent group will help safeguard ORE’s integrity and guide its governance and strategic development as the platform enters its next phase. The new SAB succeeds the existing Scientific Advisory Board that has supported the platform until now under the auspices of the European Commission.
The Funders’ Group and ORE Secretariat would like to thank all applicants for the time and effort invested in their submissions. The 22 members were selected from more than 400 high-quality applications, ensuring balance across scientific disciplines, gender, and career-stage diversity. This strong response demonstrates the research community’s commitment to advancing open scholarly communication and its enthusiasm for and engagement with ORE’s expansion this autumn.
Introducing the new Scientific Advisory Board
The appointed members are:
- Jan Magnus Aronsen – University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Norway; Medical and Health Sciences
- Lonni Besançon – Linköping University, Sweden; Engineering and Technology
- Ruth Blasco – Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution, Spain; Humanities
- Jeffrey Buckley – Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Ireland; Social Sciences
- Costanza Conti – University of Florence, Italy; Engineering and Technology
- Roberta D’Alessandro – Utrecht University, the Netherlands; Humanities
- Sven Dupré – University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Humanities
- Eugénio Ferreira – Fernando Pessoa University, Portugal; Engineering and Technology
- Thomas Guillemaud – INRAE and Université Côte d’Azur, France; Natural Sciences
- Markus Huff – University of Tübingen, Germany; Social Sciences
- Amelya Keles Slevogt – Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; Medical and Health Sciences
- Martina Knoop – CNRS, France; Natural Sciences
- Stuart Lane – University of Lausanne and Swiss National Science Foundation, Switzerland; Natural Sciences
- Dan Larhammar – Uppsala University, Sweden; Natural Sciences
- Chiara Mariotti – INFN, Boston University, and CERN, Italy; Natural Sciences
- Christine Moissl-Eichinger – Medical University of Graz, Austria; Natural Sciences
- Salvador Naya Fernández – University of A Coruña, Spain; Engineering and Technology
- Katalin Solymosi – Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary; Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
- Mangala Srinivas – Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands; Medical and Health Sciences
- Caren Sureth-Sloane – Paderborn University, Germany and WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria; Social Sciences
- Nektarios Tavernarakis – University of Crete and Foundation for Research and Technology, Greece; Natural Sciences
- Ludo Waltman – CWTS and Leiden University, the Netherlands; Social Sciences
The SAB Members are appointed for three years, with a possibility of one renewal.
The selection process
The process combined an open call with nominations from ORE’s participating funders. Candidates from both the open call and funder nominations were considered together and assessed on equal footing, using a single, standardised evaluation framework.
Six assessors from ORE’s funders formed the SAB Selection Committee where each assessor evaluated a pool of candidates that were designed to avoid assessors evaluating candidates from their own country.
Candidates were assessed on scientific excellence and standing (≈60%), editorial and research assessment experience (≈20%), and commitment to open science (≈20%).
A preliminary shortlist was created with the highest scoring candidates from each list. Candidates were then grouped into disciplinary pools based on the Frascati Fields of Research. Within each pool gender balance and career-stage diversity were also considered before the final list of candidates was selected through unanimous voting.
“We were delighted with the response to the call and are grateful to the wider community for its engagement. For those who have not been selected for the ORE SAB we sincerely hope that this is not the end of our collaboration. We encourage you to champion transparent publishing practices and open science within your institutions and national contexts, and we look forward to welcoming you as ORE authors or reviewers in the future” said Karla Anaya-Carlsson and Jeroen Sondervan on behalf of the ORE Funders’ Group and Executive Committee.
The role of the SAB
Going forward, responsibilities of the newly formed SAB include:
- Advising on scientific matters related to the publishing services and its policies (such as ORE’s author and reviewer guidelines), as well as on ethical guidelines, and the peer review process.
- Advising on strategic aspects of the platform, including its future direction, sustainability, potential new services, and opportunities for collaboration.
- Reviewing and providing advice on misconduct cases and transparency issues.
- Representing the interests of their specific scientific disciplines.
