It is important to ensure that the COST Actions’ scientific and technology related results, outcomes, and impacts are shared widely with the Research and Innovation community. To further support this, COST Actions were recently invited to start submitting their networks’ research to Open Research Europe (ORE), the European Commission’s Open Access publishing platform for research.
The latest COST Action research on ORE
The advantages of ORE
Open Research Europe is an original publishing venue, like a journal, not a repository. It provides a reliable peer-reviewed publishing service of high scientific quality, with swift publication times. ORE accepts articles in all fields of science and publication of a wide range of outputs is supported making it an ideal portal for the diversity of COST Actions.
When looking at the process Pia Kahnay highlights “the first version of our manuscript was accepted as a preprint and published online as Open Access within a few weeks.” She adds, “another advantage is that publication is free for members of a COST Action. This means that funds that would otherwise be spent on publication can be used for other purposes. This might be especially relevant for researchers from Inclusive Target Countries who may struggle even more with the financial resources to publish.“
“Open Access is clearly the future of research publication, yet still too expensive to be accessible to most researchers. Funded by the European Commission, ORE is a perfect solution and an equitable opportunity based on merit and talent that allows all Horizon Europe grantees access to Open Access. It has already boosted our COST Action’s publication projects” said Dr Marie Ruiz, WEMov.
Open peer review
Open Research Europe uses a fully open and transparent post-publication peer review process whereby the names and affiliations of reviewers are published alongside their reports. Their model is centered around transparency and innovation, allowing peer review to become a constructive and collaborative conversation within the research community. Peer review takes place after the article has been published openly on the platform, so research can be read and cited while being assessed by expert reviewers.
“The fully transparent review system is an excellent fit with our views on scientific quality and integrity. We see open peer review as part of the development towards Open Science, because it makes the scientific process more transparent, and because it gives more recognition to the contribution of reviewers.“ said Jacques J.D.M. van Lankveld, ESMN.
“For our manuscript, we are still waiting for the reviewers’ comments, so we cannot report on the actual process yet. However, we believe that an open peer review process will have a positive impact on the quality of the manuscript. By publishing not only the names of the reviewers, but also the communication between reviewers and authors, along with the manuscript and the different versions that may result, the development process will be traceable for all. This could also help others to learn from possible mistakes, such as inaccurate descriptions in the text or errors in the statistical analysis. Such an open process makes you vulnerable. However, this should not prevent anyone from participating and should be seen as an opportunity to help improve scientific communication.” explain Pia Kahnay and Lars Lewejohann.
This article was first published on 20 February by COST.
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