Pillar I: Accelerating open access and research assessment reforms in ERA

Scope

This topic aims to foster effective and sustainable structural institutional changes within R&I organisations in alignment with the ERA priorities. Through financial support to third parties (cascading grants), it will enable a variety of capacity-building activities, such as the provision of tools, resources, guidelines, training, and quality assurance programmes.

Applicants should select and clearly identify one area being addressed, choosing from the two areas outlined below. Each area is designed to contribute toward the implementation of an ERA policy: Area 1 - ERA Action “Applying equity in open science; Area 2 - ERA Structural Policy “Reforming research assessment”. Proposals should develop the activities outlined for the selected area as well as propose additional activities that contribute to achieving the expected outcomes.

While focusing on one area, applicants are encouraged to consider synergies with other topics of this Call. For example, applicants that choose Area 1 on non-profit open access publishing models may propose activities linked to research assessment (Area 2 of this topic), peer review (Area 4 of topic HORIZON-WIDERA-2026-06-ERA-02), or reproducibility in research (Area 1 of topic HORIZON-WIDERA-2026-06-ERA-08). Any such synergies should be clearly explained.

Proposed activities should reach large communities of stakeholders, ensuring a wide geographical coverage, inclusivity, broad participation, and accessibility over the course of the project. Proposals should describe their target group in terms of its scope and size. In project activities, particular attention should be paid to promoting inclusive gender equality and addressing gender-specific challenges.

The conditions for the selection procedures that apply to the open calls for cascading grants are provided in the Horizon Europe General Annexes - Part B.

Expected project duration is up to 3 years without prejudice to a longer duration if justified.

Area 1: Supporting the transition of scholarly societies to non-profit open access publishing models

Expected outcome: Proposals under Area 1 will deliver on the impact “A more open, equitable and inclusive research and innovation ecosystem”, contributing to the ERA Action “Applying equity in open science”. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Publishing activities of scholarly societies in a range of disciplines and scientific fields have transitioned into non-profit open access publishing models, ensuring broader dissemination of research and more equitable and inclusive access to publishing services by eliminating author fees;
• Improved capacities, skills, and resources for scholarly societies that are essential for transitioning their scientific publishing venues into sustainable, non-profit open access publishing models;
• Greater awareness of and commitment to open science principles and practices among scholarly societies and their underlying communities, support to the reform of research assessment and the European Charter for Researchers[1].

Scope: Area 1 supports the transition of journals/books/monographs of national and/or European scholarly societies[2] into non-profit open access publishing models without author fees.

At least two thirds of the funding should be allocated as cascading grants to calls for pilot actions, targeting scholarly societies in all six Frascati fields[3] of science and technology. At least one third of the grants should be distributed to scholarly societies in the Humanities/Arts and Social Sciences. The cascading grants are expected to result in 20 to 30 pilot actions. Proposals should take into account results from past and ongoing projects on non-profit institutional open access publishing and related infrastructures[4].

Consortia should comprise, e.g., scholarly societies, research performing and funding organisations, libraries, non-profit scholarly publishers, and other research-relevant organisations, among others. To achieve the expected outcomes, proposals should address the activities outlined below and propose any additional, complementary activities, targeting scholarly societies:

• Develop business models to support sustainable non-profit open access publishing for scholarly societies beyond the project;
• Produce guidelines, training materials and lessons learnt to support capacity-building for such transitions of scholarly societies in the future;
• Launch open call(s) for grants supporting pilot actions for transitioning at least 30 scholarly societies across Europe to open access non-profit publishing models.

Area 2: Sustainable institutional reforms to improve research assessment systems

Expected outcome: Proposals under Area 2 will deliver on the impact “Systemic reform of research assessment through the recognition of the diverse outputs, practices, and activities which maximise the quality and impact of research”, contributing to the ERA Structural Policy “Reforming research assessment”. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Institutional changes in research performing and funding organisations (including accreditation and quality assurance agencies) in favour of more responsible research assessment systems in line with the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment (ARRA);
• Implementation of Action Plans of signatories of the ARRA;
• Increased awareness and trust among researchers and research organisations about reforms of research assessment.

Scope: Area 2 aims to support institutional changes, raise awareness, and assess the level of progress made in terms of reforming research assessment, in line with the ARRA. The cascading grants are expected to effect changes in 40-50 institutions of different types and from different geographical areas. Proposals should build on past or ongoing relevant initiatives and projects at European or national level[5].

Project activities should involve actors such as higher education institutions, research performing and funding organisations, research evaluation agencies, accreditation and quality assurance agencies, notably those engaged in the CoARA approach. To achieve the expected outcomes, proposals should address the activities outlined below and propose any additional, complementary activities:

• Launch open call(s) providing grants that support institutional changes for reforming research assessment;
• Develop or reform research assessment and evaluation criteria and processes in alignment with the CoARA Agreement commitments;
• Implement reforms aiming to establish qualitative peer-review at the centre of research assessment practices and to move away from the use of traditional bibliometric journal and publication-based indicators (in particular the Journal Impact Factor and h-index);
• Implement institutional changes in the assessment of research that recognise the diversity of activities and roles of researchers; and, enhance the recognition of diverse research practices as part of assessment systems (e.g., public engagement, citizen science, and science for policy);
• Analyse the outcomes of research assessment reforms and identify relevant barriers and impact indicators, as well as quantify the progress of action plans.

[1] https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/hrexcellenceaward/european-charter-researchers#the-european-charter-for-researchers.

[2] Scholarly societies (also called learned societies) are organisations dedicated to advancing a specific academic discipline or field of study, set scientific standards, and enable multilingualism and biblio-diversity. They typically serve as central hubs for researchers, educators, and practitioners to share knowledge, collaborate, and uphold standards in their field. They often have significant scientific publishing activities and play a role in scientific publishing.

[3] 1) Natural sciences; 2) Engineering and technology; 3) Medical and health sciences; 4) Agricultural and veterinary sciences; 5) Social sciences; 6) Humanities and the arts.

[4] Including relevant projects funded under HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-43, HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-ERA-01-42, HORIZON-INFRA-2022-EOSC-01-02, and HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-01-08.

[5] Including projects funded under HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ERA-01-07, HORIZON-INFRA-2022-EOSC-01-01, HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-45.