| Votes | By | Price | Discipline | Year Launched |
| Science Open | OPEN SOURCE | Interdisciplinary |
What is ScienceOpen?
ScienceOpen is a web-based research publishing and discovery platform that brings together article indexing, preprint hosting, open peer review and community curation. It hosts and indexes tens of millions of article records (52 million+ as of older reports) across disciplines where authors can upload preprints, posters, or full articles, receive a DOI, and leverage open-peer review workflows.
The platform emphasises context: linking citations, altmetrics, community-led Collections, post-publication comments and reviews. It integrates with ORCID and Crossref, enabling legitimate author identity and citation tracking.
In short: A discovery + review + publishing network for open science.
How it works – major features
1. Preprint & posting
Authors can submit a manuscript or poster to ScienceOpen’s “Preprints” collection and receive a DOI under a CC-BY licence. This allows rapid dissemination prior to formal peer review or journal publication.
2. Open peer review
Once a preprint is published on the platform, authors or the community can invite reviewers (with ORCID and minimum publications) to comment and rate the work. Reviews themselves may get DOIs. This adds transparency and visibility to peer review.
3. Collections & discovery
Researchers or editors can create thematic Collections of articles (across publishers), curate them, comment on them, track metrics, and invite discussion. These Collections improve discoverability and help build communities around open-science topics.
4. Metrics, context & enrichment
Every article record includes links to citations, altmetric scores, open comments, and metadata. Users can filter by usage, shares, citations, etc. This gives more insight than just “publication accepted”.
Why you might use ScienceOpen
- Accelerated access: Preprints and open peer review mean your work is visible earlier, and you may gather feedback sooner.
- Interdisciplinary reach: With tens of millions of records and thematic Collections, your article may connect with non-traditional audiences.
- Transparent review & discovery: The post-publication review model and rich metrics support visibility and credibility.
- Community building: By curating a Collection or participating in one, you build visibility and network in your research area.
Considerations & Limitations
- While ScienceOpen supports both pre-print and full-article hosting, it is not a substitute for all journals—if you need a high-impact journal in a specific field you’ll still check journal policies.
- The open review model means that review quality is variable and the platform relies on the community, you may still require peer review in traditional journals for academic recognition.
- Visibility is partly dependent on how well you engage (curating, commenting, promoting). The platform enables but doesn’t guarantee large citation impact.
