Support Open Science through Open Infrastructures

Communities that value OS and OA depend on the services provided by Open Infrastructures. SCOSS provides a framework that enables support to community-led, non-commercial Open Infrastructure to be sustainable over the long term.

Who can contribute?

We welcome contributions from all organisations that are committed to ensuring that Open Infrastructure stays open, including individual institutions, consortia, government, national research agencies or funders, charities, and more.

How you can contribute.

You can support the SCOSS-endorsed infrastructures in a variety of ways: through one-time or longer-term contributions, donations, or through memberships and more.

To ensure a future of truly open science and research, we must sustain non-commercial, Open Infrastructure. The community needs your help to make it happen.

Individual Organisations
We invite support from individual organisations. Please review the list of vetted infrastructures on our Who to fund page. Choose those that you want to support and either contact them directly or contact SCOSS. See Flyer.

Library Consortia
Library consortia play a crucial role in supporting and funding Open Infrastructure and it is our preferred model as it can keep overheads down for OS infrastructures. Our flyer describes how other consortia have contributed. Please contact us if you have any questions or wish to explore how to fund key Open Infrastructure.

Research Funding Organizations
We welcome support from all kinds of research funders be they government, charities, private funders or others. See our flyer to learn more about the SCOSS model. Please contact us to discuss opportunities for collaboration.

How it works.

SCOSS rigorously vets and selects non-commercial, Open Infrastructure that are essential to supporting Open Science, but are in need of support. The SCOSS-endorsed Family of infrastructures set a target funding amount and SCOSS connects them with funding partners to meet this short-term target and build a long-term relationship.

In the short term, SCOSS assists Open Infrastructures to secure funding to build a more sustainable foundation, such as to help them transition from project-based funding or to secure funds for critical, core activities that traditional funding sources do not support. SCOSS’s long-term impact is helping create new partnerships with funders and transform funding models. SCOSS also helps solidify the OS infrastructure ecosystem by connecting and supporting its infrastructures through common SCOSS Family activities.

What are the benefits of the SCOSS model?

The SCOSS model was created by the community, for the community, to ensure that non-commercial infrastructures serving our needs and aligned with our values continue to thrive.

Here are some of the benefits of the SCOSS model:

• Provides guidance: SCOSS helps you navigate the growing complexity of the Open Infrastructure landscape, ensuring you select those worthy of support.
• Quality assurance: SCOSS vets and selects essential, non-commercial Open Infrastructures in need of financial support, adding them to the SCOSS Family.
• Facilitates relationships: SCOSS facilitates relationships between funding organisations and each infrastructure.
• Flexibility: SCOSS supports various ways to contribute, whether you want to support one infrastructure, some infrastructures, or all of them.
• Direct benefits: Contributing organisations can receive member benefits from the Open Infrastructures like governance roles; free hosting; preservation services; member dashboards; expert access; and customised usage reports.
• Efficiency: SCOSS reduces overhead through its endorsement process and, where possible, by collaborating with consortia to maximise the impact of your contributions.
• Global governance: The SCOSS Board and Advisory Group include representatives from key national and regional organisations from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and North America.

Contact us.

To discuss any of these possibilities, please contact us to learn more.