Open Research Europe (ORE), the scientific publishing platform originally created by the European Commission, is entering a new phase with a renewed technological infrastructure and a collaborative governance model involving 17 European funding agencies and research organizations. In Portugal, the initiative is supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).
ORE will now operate as a non‑profit initiative, continuing to provide open access publishing at no cost to authors or readers. For the period 2026–2031, more than €16 million in funding has been approved, with 60% provided by the European Commission and 40% by partner entities. The platform will be available to researchers from 11 European countries and to beneficiaries of European funding.
CERN will host and operate the new infrastructure. The system will be based on Open Journal Systems (OJS), an open‑source platform widely used for peer‑reviewed journals. Functionalities developed specifically for ORE will also be shared with the broader OJS community, contributing to the global ecosystem of open scientific publishing.
The governance model includes operational management by the ORE Secretariat at CERN, strategic guidance from an Executive Committee and a Funding Group, and plans for an independent Scientific Advisory Board to provide scientific input. Members of the advisory board are expected to be announced in September.
ORE aims to strengthen transparent and accessible publishing models while enhancing collaboration with other European Open Science initiatives. Partnerships include OPERAS, which supports social sciences and humanities, and the European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH), which promotes Diamond Open Access publishing. These collaborations are intended to improve interoperability, develop common standards, and reinforce trust in publishing models that remain free for both authors and readers.
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