The scholarly publishing system today is highly dysfunctional. Decades after the introduction of Open Access, we still see exorbitant subscription costs for accessing research, leading to limited accessibility. The emphasis on prestigious journals and impact factors still incentivizes researchers to prioritize publishing in high-profile venues over the quality and integrity of their work. This potentially undermines scientific rigor and drives Open Access publishing charges (APCs) sky high. And lengthy peer review and editorial decision processes are delaying the dissemination of crucial findings, impeding scientific progress and collaboration.
REPO4EU therefore is turning to new models of dissemination based on Open Science. Open Science publishing extends beyond the Open Access model to embrace practices that make the entire research process more transparent, accessible, and reproducible. It encompasses not just the final research articles, but also the underlying data, methodology, and research process. Components include F.A.I.R. (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) data Sharing, open peer review and reproducibility tools that allow others to reproduce the findings, such as open source software, notebooks, and detailed protocols. REPO4EU, supported by Horizon Europe, has launched the Open Science publishing portal Drug Repurposing Central to create a hub of innovation for the entire community and as call for change in the publishing world.
This initiative takes Open Access to the next level by integrating advanced Open Science practices to speed up the process of discovery and increase the interoperability of research data to foster a more collaborative research environment. The portal includes the preprint server DrugRxiv and two new Diamond Open Access journals, which are part of a broader strategy to disseminate research freely and widely. Integration with SciScore for scientific rigor checks and an open peer review mechanism aims to enhance the quality and transparency of research outputs. Furthermore, the portal is enriched with Altmetric to track and aggregate online attention and Scite.ai to approach citation data more holistically. The goal is to create, test, validate and disseminate a comprehensive suite of Open Science tools for researchers to advance the field of drug repurposing in the open.
The REPO4EU publishing portal places particular emphasis on open peer review of preprints – a hot topic in scholarly publishing. As the use and acceptance of preprints in the life-sciences expands, they present an opportunity to re-think the peer-review process. Preprints facilitate emerging models of open peer review that could be more comprehensive, inclusive, and collaborative compared to conventional journal-based peer review.
The publishing concept of REPO4EU offers a number of direct benefits for authors. Publishing a preprint accelerates the dissemination of research findings, enabling rapid feedback from peers and establishing priority for discoveries. It enhances visibility and accessibility, contributing to open science principles, and can bolster career advancement by showcasing productivity and contribution to the scientific community. Funding bodies ranging from the European Research Council (ERC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Wellcome Trust, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute strongly encourage posting preprints as part of their open dissemination strategies. At the same time, by offering free diamond open access journals in the field of drug repurposing and network and systems medicine, the REPO4EU coalition is working to meet the publication needs of the entire community to share information as widely as possible.
This initiative not only supports the scientific community by providing free access to research and publication platforms but also aligns with EU policies on Open Science, setting a precedent for future research collaboration and dissemination models in the health sciences.
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