News & views

What you told us – responses to our consultation on SCOSS’s future

29 Sep 2021 -

The Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) is now four years old. We are delighted that we have been able to support eight extraordinary organisations that provide Open Science Infrastructure in that time. As we grow into the next phase of our development, we have sought to learn more about how people perceive us and the work we do, and where our priorities should lie as we develop a new SCOSS strategy.

We conducted a consultation to understand awareness and perceptions of Open Science Infrastructure in the sector, and the role SCOSS plays in providing support.

As part of this consultation, we undertook a survey which attracted over 200 responses. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who took the time to respond to the survey, and are delighted to share some of the results.

Who responded?

The highest number of respondents (45%) represented organizations based in Europe, with France providing the most respondents while multiple other European nations were represented by a few respondents. North America provided the next highest number (24%), with Canada providing the majority of these.

Ready, steady, pledge! SCOSS launches its third pledging round

24 Sep 2021 -

The time has come! We are excited to announce the 3rd SCOSS pledging round with three new Open Science Infrastructure services partnering with us and needing your help in creating a sustainable future for them. After careful evaluation, SCOSS has selected arXiv, Redalyc/AmeliCA, and DSpace for this third funding cycle.

Martin Borchert, Chair of the SCOSS Board commented on this selection: “SCOSS is thrilled to announce the launch of its third pledging cycle. Each of the chosen projects is already an established and well-known infrastructure with high usage and making an important contribution to open scholarship. They all need community support to foster continued innovation, increased resilience and financial sustainability.”

We hope that you will consider contributing to one, two, or all three of these carefully chosen Open Science Infrastructures, as their future depends on community support. Let’s work together to build a healthy Open Science ecosystem!

SCOSS Campaign: DOAB/OAPEN reaches important funding milestone

17 Aug 2021 -

The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) and OAPEN, jointly part of SCOSS’s second funding cycle, has met a significant milestone by reaching its three-year funding goal of 505,000 Euros in about 18 months, despite the COVID-19 challenge. SCOSS and DOAB/OAPEN would like to express their gratitude towards its global funding community of 89 institutions from 14 countries that have contributed to this campaign. Ahead lies now the challenge for DOAB/OAPEN to sustain this crucial financial support from the community.

Swiss institutions pledge 320,250 euros to DOAB and OAPEN, PKP, and OpenCitations

29 Jul 2021 -

After the pledge to DOAJ and Sherpa Romeo co-funded by swissuniversities in 2020, 18 institutional members and customers of the Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries have now pledged funding to three services currently being promoted by SCOSS: DOAB and OAPEN, PKP, and OpenCitations. Over the next three years, the support will total 131,250 Euros for DOAB and OAPEN, 99,750 Euros to PKP, and 89,250 Euros to OpenCitations, for a combined total of 320,250 Euros.

What’s next? Help us shape SCOSS’s future

22 Jun 2021 -

Over the last several years SCOSS has successfully supported two pledging rounds for Open Science Infrastructures helping them become more sustainable. We are about to announce organizations included in the third cycle and we find ourselves in the position of both looking back at what we have achieved and thinking forward, about SCOSS’s future.

Yes, you MAY! SCOSS social media campaign for Open Science Infrastructures

2 Jun 2021 -

COVID-19 has adversely affected pledging for the recent SCOSS infrastructures, which is why we have proclaimed May and June as the Months of Contributing to Open Science Infrastructures (OSIs).

Peter Suber talks to SCOSS about the importance of supporting Open Infrastructure now

19 Apr 2021 -

SCOSS invited Peter Suber to speak to us about the importance of Open Infrastructure. We talked about the role of OSIs in the scholarly communication ecosystem and the lessons we learnt about Open Science and Scholarship in general in times of the global pandemic.

Canadian Institutions pledge 185,250 Euros to DOAB, PKP, and OpenCitations via CRKN

27 Oct 2020 -

ARL on How SCOSS Is Strengthening Global Open Access and Open Science Infrastructure

22 Oct 2020 -

The American Association of Research Libraries (ARL) just published a blog post on How SCOSS Is Strengthening Global Open Access and Open Science Infrastructure. As stated by ARL's Judy Ruttenberg, Senior Director of Scholarship and Policy, "2020’s global health crisis, with associated physical access restrictions and financial hardship, has brought the value of open into sharp relief. Attending to at-risk open science infrastructure now, through initiatives like SCOSS, helps secure a competitive market for scholarly innovation. If we cede the market exclusively to large commercial entities, those entities will control the direction of open scholarship and open access."

SCOSS meets major milestones: DOAJ reaches funding goal

13 Oct 2020 -