cOAlition S has announced the release of a comprehensive report detailing the findings of a global consultation on the "Towards Responsible Publishing" (TRP) proposal. The TRP proposal, crafted by cOAlition S, envisions a future scholarly communication system that is fit for purpose and aims to enable research funders to collaborate with key stakeholders to achieve this vision.
Conducted by Research Consulting and Leiden University’s Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), the extensive consultation engaged over 11,600 respondents from the global research community. The consultation, which ran from November 2023 to May 2024, gathered diverse opinions from researchers, research performing organizations, scholarly societies, publishers, and communication infrastructure providers through online surveys, focus groups, and feedback letters.
The report highlights broad support for several TRP principles, including:
• Posting of Preprints: Encouraging the sharing of early research outputs.
• Open Peer Review: Promoting transparency in the peer review process.
• Open Licensing: Ensuring research outputs are freely accessible and reusable.
These practices, which align with the TRP principles, are seen as areas where cOAlition S members might drive further adoption through supportive policies.
The consultation findings emphasize the need for global collaboration to reform recognition and reward mechanisms. This includes enhancing cooperation between research funders, research-performing organizations, and universities to incorporate a wider set of research outputs. There is also a clear desire to reallocate spending within the scholarly communication system towards more responsible practices.
The complete report and accompanying data sets are publicly accessible at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11243942. Over the coming weeks, cOAlition S funders will conduct a thorough review of the report and publish a response by the end of 2024.
Click here to read the original press release.
