The Open Research Europe (ORE) scientific publishing platform is entering a new phase of its activity, with a renewed technological infrastructure and a collaborative governance model that brings together 17 European funding agencies and research organizations. In Portugal, the initiative has the support of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).
Originally created by the European Commission to support the publication of research results funded by European programs, ORE will now operate as a non-profit initiative, ensuring the continuity of an open access publishing model, at no cost to authors or readers.
For the period between 2026 and 2031, an investment of over €16 million was approved, funded by the European Commission (60%) and the other partner entities (40%). This support will make available a scientific publication platform open to researchers from 11 European countries and to beneficiaries of European funding.
CERN will now host the infrastructure.
The new platform will be hosted and operated by CERN, an organization recognized for its role in the development of international scientific infrastructure and the birthplace of the World Wide Web.
The technological infrastructure will be based on Open Journal Systems (OJS), an open-source platform widely used in the management of peer-reviewed scientific journals. The functionalities developed specifically for ORE will be made available to the international community that uses this software, contributing to the strengthening of the global ecosystem of open scientific publishing.
New governance model
The platform's evolution is accompanied by a new governance structure. Operational management will be the responsibility of the ORE Secretariat, based at CERN, while strategic guidance will be provided by an Executive Committee and a Funding Group.
There are also plans to create an independent Scientific Advisory Board, responsible for providing scientific advice to the platform. The members of this body are expected to be announced during the month of September.
Strengthening Open Science in Europe
ORE aims to continue promoting more transparent and accessible scientific publishing models, while simultaneously strengthening collaboration with other European Open Science initiatives.
Among these, the partnership with OPERAS, an infrastructure dedicated to social sciences and humanities, stands out, as well as the connection to the European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH), which supports Diamond Open Access publishing models.
Through these collaborations, the platform aims to increase interoperability, develop common standards, and strengthen trust in scientific publishing models without cost to authors or readers.
