OPENing UP new methods, indicators and tools for peer review, dissemination of research results, and impact measurement

Open Access, Open Science, Open Scholarship accompanied by sharing enabling technologies, have revolutionized the way scholarly artefacts are evaluated, published and assessed. These developments have also changed the requirements and practices of the involved stakeholders, namely researchers, publishers, funders, institutions, industry and the public. Traditional ways of publication and evaluation do not satisfy the needs of this changing landscape.

Through analysis, consultation, hands-on engagement with researchers, publishers, institutions and funders, industry and citizens, OpenUP will a) define a framework that defines roles and processes, benefits and opportunities, b) validate the proposed mechanisms through a series of pilots involving researchers from four scientific communities (Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities, Energy), and c) come up with practical policy recommendations and guidelines to be used by EU, national and institutional policymakers at different settings. OpenUP will engage with all stakeholders via a series of outreach and training events, and the creation of an Open Information Hub, a collaborative web based Knowledge Base that will host a catalogue of open tools/services, methodologies, best practices from various disciplines or settings, success stories, reports. This increased level of engagement and knowledge will feed into the development of research and innovation policies that aim to support and complement Open Science.

With a clear trend towards open scholarship the consortium has engaged partners with a proven outreach capacity in all aspects of the review-disseminate-assess cycle: research organizations and universities that have a track record on open science policies, academic libraries, scholarly publisher, e-Infrastructures, public policy consultancy SME.

The foreseen outcomes of the project:

• New mechanisms and processes for peer reviewing
• New tools for peer reviewing
• New set of indicators
• New dissemination methods for research results
• Set of policy recommendations and a roadmap for the emerging peer-review landscape