Research articles play a vital role in the research journey, but a singular focus can undermine the value of other research outputs that can be published as diverse article types.

Traditionally, research articles comprise the majority of publications across all disciplines, with journals prioritizing these above all else. However, in Open Research Europe, they represent 51% of all articles – so what are the remaining 49%?

In this blog, we highlight why broadening this focus of publishable work is important and the benefits different article types on Open Research Europe can bring to your research.

From software and code to case studies and clinical notes

The recent Council Conclusions on high-quality, transparent, open, trustworthy and equitable scholarly publishing reinforced the case for publishing other outputs. In these conclusions, 27 European governments highlighted the importance of diverse research material for researchers, businesses, and other stakeholders, including open data, code, software, and supplementary materials.

Open Research Europe’s publishing model supports these conclusions, and differs in many ways from traditional journals, including its scope.

We cover all disciplines and welcome all research, regardless of the perceived level of interest or novelty. This includes confirmatory or negative results, null studies, and more.

As a result, if you are eligible, you and your team can publish any results you feel are worth sharing, supported by a wide range of article types for each type of output. We want to make sure that your research reaches those who need to know about it.

Some of our less traditional article types include:

• Software Tool Articles describe new software tools, the rationale for development, and details of the code used for its construction.
• Data Notes provide brief descriptions of scientific datasets that promote the potential reuse of the data and include details of why and how you or your co-authors created the data.
• Method Articles describe experimental, statistical, or computational methods and tests/procedures in basic, translational, or applied research. They can include new methods, modifications to existing methods, or innovative applications of existing methods in new ways.
• Registered Reports are a form of empirical article in which researchers publish methods and proposed analyses for review before conducting research.

You can find all of the article types supported by Open Research Europe in the infographic below, all of which undergo peer review after publication.

The benefits of diverse article types

At Open Research Europe, we agree with that the shift from focusing solely on research articles widens the scope of publishing opportunities and has many benefits for researchers.

Get full credit while making use of all underlying research material

A significant amount of work goes into any project, but only a small amount makes it into the final research article. As a result, much of your work is never seen outside the research group and doesn’t get the full credit it deserves.

Similarly, much of this work is archived after a project, which reduces its utility to other researchers and, arguably, wastes much of the underlying analysis and investigation.

The ability to publish this work as a standalone article type, whether it’s methods in a Method Article, data in a Data Note, or pre-research investigation in a Systematic Review, ensures the wider community can recognize all research activity.

It also ensures other researchers can use all of your outputs. This means that others can not only try to reproduce your original findings, which we’ll look at in further detail later, but can build on the foundations of each of your output. In turn, this can help reduce unnecessary repetition of research and accelerate the speed of their discoveries.

Streamline time and effort and get richer peer review

Publishing all outputs as different article types can also streamline time and effort during the research project.

Every article on Open Research Europe is peer reviewed. This means that publishing your work in the early stages allows expert reviewers to help improve research as it evolves and flag and minimize any potential issues you may not have detected or considered relevant.

Not only does this improve the quality of your research, but it can also save you time and effort in mitigating any concerns as they arise (or even before).

Similarly, publishing other outputs as dedicated articles allows for a much deeper analysis and discussion of each stage and, subsequently, a much richer peer review.

Increase transparency and trust in research

Your entire research project becomes more transparent by providing access to all research outputs, including comprehensive information for data, software, and supporting archival material in dedicated article types.

Improving this reproducibility can help other researchers and stakeholders ensure that conclusions are built upon a firm foundation, boosting your research’s credibility and building trust in the findings.

Increase research visibility, citations, and real-world impact

Finally, publishing all research outputs as a dedicated article type can boost your research visibility.

Each article published on Open Research Europe has its DOI and is indexed in various bibliographic databases when it passes peer review.

As a result, each of your articles will be discoverable. This means readers can find your study via many different routes, for example, a Method Article, Brief Report, or Case Study, rather than just through your final Research Article.

Producing a series of articles for each study also means that the capacity for citations is increased, with each article immediately citable upon publication.

Additionally, this visibility can boost the real-world impact of your research, as it increases the chance of your work being discovered and used by other stakeholders, including policymakers.

Find out more about these diverse article types in our article guidelines for each subject.