Routledge to launch the world’s first open research publishing platform for HSS that combines books, articles, and other research outputs in one interdisciplinary venue

Leading Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) publisher Routledge- part of Taylor & Francis Group- will launch the world’s first open research publishing platform specifically for the HSS community that combines books, articles, and other research outputs in one interdisciplinary venue.

The publishing platform known as Routledge Open Research, will utilize the publishing model, technology and knowledge pioneered by their open research publishing partner F1000 (which Taylor & Francis Group acquired in 2020) to provide HSS scholars with a rapid, accessible and collaborative venue to publish their work.

Supporting the HSS community’s mission to influence research, policy and practice, and make a real-world impact, Routledge Open Research will enable all research outputs to be published open access and will combine the benefits of pre-printing with mechanisms to assure quality and transparency. These include invited and open peer review, article versioning, archiving and indexing.

The platform will endorse the FAIR Data Principles, allowing authors to share their underlying data and supporting materials, further accelerating the pace of discovery, providing credit and recognition for authors, and ultimately improving public trust in research.

Ian White, Portfolio Development Specialist at Routledge, said: “With the drive towards open research gaining momentum amongst the HSS community, we have harnessed our relationship with F1000 to create a credible publishing platform that supports easy, rapid and transparent publishing whilst giving authors the opportunity to increase the discoverability, accessibility and reach of their research.

“A vital element of open research is ‘knowledge mobilization’. That’s all about bringing as many relevant stakeholders to engage with published content as possible. When you consider that the main aim of a researcher is to make a difference through their work, Routledge Open Research offers a way to maximize contact with multiple audiences. These interactions will undoubtedly inform the author’s work, creating a virtuous cycle towards real impact.”

As well as research articles, Routledge Open Research will feature a variety of peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed content such as books (through our new Open Plus Books initiative) data notes, software tools, methods articles, policy briefs, case studies, posters, slides and technical reports. These offerings afford scholars, institutions, departments, funders, and societies the opportunity to publish all research outputs in one dedicated, inter-disciplinary space.

Anna Clarkson, Editorial Director at Routledge, said: “Earlier in the year we launched Open Plus Books, our new concept in book publishing that combines the T&F and F1000 publishing models to publish books that are rapid, open first, dynamic, iterative, and updatable. This reimagining of the book means that an extensive and diverse range of outputs from all stages of the HSS research process can now sit side by side in one interdisciplinary space, enabling researchers, institutions, societies, and funders to curate powerful, landmark collections with the potential to have real-world impact. This, for me, is what makes Routledge Open Research truly unique.”

Rebecca Lawrence, Managing Director of F1000, said: “Routledge Open Research is an exciting partnership which perfectly marries Routledge’s world-leading reputation and editorial expertise in HSS with F1000’s trailblazing open research publishing model.  HSS research today is incredibly rich and forms a crucial component of solving many of today’s problems, requiring increasing inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary collaboration. We’re seeing the techniques, data and methodologies associated with one discipline adapted and used to further research or solve a problem connected with an entirely different field.  Routledge Open Research is perfectly positioned to ensure rapid and full access to this breadth of research fields and formats for the benefit of the scholarly community, industry, and society more broadly.”

Routledge Open Research will officially launch in the spring of 2022, with books coming onboard in the autumn of 2022. It will be governed by an independent Editorial Advisory Board of researchers from all over the globe, and from different disciplines and at different career stages. Board members will help to support the strategy and provide direction as required.

To find out more about Routledge Open Research, please visit: https://think.f1000.com/routledgeopenresearch/