The European Commission has awarded a contract for the setting up of an open access publishing platform for scientific articles as a free service for Horizon 2020 beneficiaries. The launch of the ambitious EU open access initiative is planned for early 2021.
The platform will be a peer-reviewed publishing service to support Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe beneficiaries to publish their research in open access free of charge (i.e. without article fees), if they so wish, during their project or after it has ended. The platform will support beneficiaries to meet the open access requirements of Horizon 2020, the EU research and innovation programme, and of its successor Horizon Europe. It will also support open access publishing as the main mode for publication of research in the years to come.
The platform will operate under the highest scientific and publishing standards and will have a Scientific Advisory Board to steer the publishing of research of the highest quality. It will manage the entire publication process, from submission to publication, comprising open peer-review, post-publication curation and preservation.
Original articles of various types in any discipline stemming from Horizon 2020- and Horizon Europe-funded research will be eligible for publication on the platform, which will offer an open and transparent peer-review process. The platform will be accepting submissions for articles funded by Horizon 2020 as of autumn 2020. Its official launch is planned for early 2021.
The contract for the tender has been awarded to F1000 Research Ltd, an innovative company providing publishing and related services to researchers, institutions and funders. We will be working with F1000Research Ltd to provide more information, and a place to register interest shortly.
