In August 2025, Open Research Europe reached the milestone of 1,000 articles published on the Platform, since its launch in 2021. During this time, over 5,400 authors from more than 1,000 institutions and over 2,500 peer reviewers have contributed their scientific expertise. We want to thank all the authors, advisors, and peer reviewers who have supported Open Research Europe over the past four years, helping to create an open research Platform for European Union-funded researchers, underpinned by transparency and collaboration.
In honor of this milestone, we’re highlighting a selection of the most impactful articles, as well as celebrating the successes of Open Research Europe. Additionally, we spoke with Michael Arentoft, Head of Unit on Open Science & Research Infrastructures at the European Commission, for his thoughts on the success of Open Research Europe.
The abTEM code: transmission electron microscopy from first principles
This Software Tool Article has the most downloads and views on any published output on Open Research Europe, accumulating 431 downloads and over 1,450 views since its publication in March 2021. It presents abTEM, an open-source simulation code for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) that integrates density functional theory (DFT) to enhance the accuracy of scattering potential calculations. Designed for ease of use and modification, abTEM supports various imaging modes and offers a seamless workflow for analyzing atomic structures and results, with demonstrated applications in materials like hexagonal boron nitride and molybdenum disulfide.
Read the full Software Tool Article here.
| Article views | Downloads | Citations |
| 1,472 | 431 | 159 |
Improved predictions of phase behaviour of intrinsically disordered proteins by tuning the interaction range
This Research Article advances our understanding of the relationship between protein sequence and phase separation in intrinsically disordered proteins. Since its publication in August 2022, as part of the Cell, Molecular and Structural Biology Gateway, it has accumulated 950 views and 256 downloads on Open Research Europe. It presents a coarse-grained model that enhances predictions of phase separation and conformational properties of intrinsically disordered proteins by tuning the interaction range. The model is optimized using experimental data from 55 proteins and demonstrates accurate predictions across various sequences, temperatures, and solution conditions, which may have significant implications for understanding biomolecular condensates in cell physiology and disease.
Read the full Research Article here.
If you would like to learn more about the Cell, Molecular, and Structural Biology Gateway, Open Research Europe spoke with Dr. Katalin Solymosi about the Gateway’s scope and challenges facing researchers within the field. Read the full blog post here.
| Article views | Downloads | Citations |
| 950 | 256 | 72 |
preCICE v2: A sustainable and user-friendly coupling library
This Software Tool Article, which demonstrates the potential of preCICE v2, a free/open-source coupling library, has been viewed 593 times and downloaded 247 times. The Software Tool focuses on preCICE v2, a free/open-source coupling library that facilitates partitioned multi-physics simulations by integrating various software packages. The Article outlines the development of preCICE v2 over the past five years, highlighting its evolution into a sustainable and user-friendly project with a growing community of over 100 research groups. It includes performance and accuracy analyses, integration with external software, and community-building efforts.
Read the full Software Tool Article here.
| Article views | Downloads | Citations |
| 593 | 247 | 56 |
Practical guidelines for Bayesian phylogenetic inference using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)
This Method Article, which uses the Markov chain Monte Carlo method to estimate phylogenic trees, was published in November 2023 and has since amassed 250 downloads and over 1,000 views on Open Research Europe. It provides practical guidelines for using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) in Bayesian phylogenetic inference, focusing on complex hierarchical models like the fossilized birth-death model. It addresses common MCMC issues, particularly convergence problems. It offers strategies for optimizing study design, model selection, and technical aspects of inference tools to improve results, especially when incorporating fossil data.
Shortly after publication on Open Research Europe, we spoke to one of the Article’s authors, Dr. Joëlle Barido-Sottani, about their work, Open Research in their field, and why they chose Open Research Europe. You can read the full interview here.
Want to learn more? Read the full Method Article here.
| Article views | Downloads | Citations |
| 1,072 | 251 | 9 |
Electric vehicle fire risk assessment framework using Fault Tree Analysis
This Research Article, which outlines the importance of data-driven insights for proactive risk management of electric vehicle (EV) fires, was published in October 2023. Since publication, it has been downloaded 255 times and has over 1,600 views. The Research Article presents a framework for assessing fire risks in electric vehicles (EVs) using Fault Tree Analysis, identifying five major causes of EV fires. The study reveals an average annual EV fire rate of 2.44 × 10^-4 fires per registered EV, highlighting the need for ongoing research and proactive risk management strategies as EV adoption increases.
We spoke to the authors, Dr Mohd Zahirasri Mohd Tohir and Dr. César Martín Gómez, about their research in a blog post as part of the “In Conversation with Open Research Europe” series. You can read the full interview here.
Read the full Research Article here.
| Article views | Downloads | Citations |
| 1,683 | 255 | 10 |
A few words from Michael Arentoft, Head of Unit on Open Science & Research Infrastructures at the European Commission, Directorate-General for Research & Innovation
‘Four years after its launch, Open Research Europe can be counted among the most cutting-edge open access scholarly publishing platforms. The innovative post-publication open peer-review model and the transparency of the process, are strong points of ORE. We are very pleased with the steadily increasing uptake of the platform amongst researchers funded by EU Programmes, in particular Horizon Europe.
ORE reflects the priorities, values and principles of the European Union when it comes to Open Science: it enables the free open circulation of research results, while it supports transparent, trustworthy and equitable scholarly publishing and research. Our ambition for ORE is that it becomes seamlessly interwoven in the fabric of research in Europe and beyond; an efficient tool to publish, share, disseminate and communicate research results in open access for the benefit of researchers and society overall.
As a further push in this direction, we are currently collaborating with numerous research funders and research organizations across Europe to evolve ORE into a sustainable collectively funded and governed open access publishing service for the researcher community. Therefore, expect more news about our plans for the future of ORE’.
