OUJ 2024 project
The "Open U Journals 2024" project financed by the National Fund for Open Science
The University of Bordeaux, the University of Lorraine and INRAE were the winners at the end of 2021 of the 2nd call for projects that was proposed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, as part of the National Fund for Open Science with the "Open U Journals 2024" project (OUJ 2024 project). The operational phase of the project began in early January 2022.
The objective of this joint project, which will run until 2024, is to encourage the digital publication of open access scientific journals without publication fees (diamond model) by jointly developing an open publication platform designed to host journals and editorial projects carried by the three partners.
This ambition is based on the University of Bordeaux's "Open U Journals" platform, which already hosts a dozen journals, and on the infrastructure developed to support the digital publishing of scientific journals, as well as on the experience and thinking of INRAE and the University of Lorraine in the field of scientific publishing and open science.
The panel of journals hosted by "Open U Journals" will thus be greatly expanded and a complete range of services will be offered for new editorial projects. The initiative will then be open to other partners interested in publishing their journals.
Each of the three institutions has already developed a roadmap, a strategic plan or a commitment to open science that includes this issue of open access scientific publishing.
The National Fund for Open Science's support, amounting to 200,000 euros, will enable progress to be made both in terms of technology and the number of journals hosted, and to continue the evolution towards new modes of publishing and services. The project group has defined three areas of work: consolidation of the technological infrastructure (structured editorial chain, connection to permanent archiving, etc.), support for the editorial transition to open science (hosting of new journals, issues of open peer review, research data, etc.), and overhaul of the governance and economic model (study of the cost and impact of the Diamond model, etc.).
About the University of Bordeaux
The University of Bordeaux, a large multidisciplinary university with intensive research, is one of the top ten French institutions and has won several labels of excellence. It is rooted in its territories and has an international reputation.
It has 54,000 students, including 2,000 doctoral students, 3,200 teachers and researchers, and more than 80 research units.
About INRAE
INRAE, the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, is a major actor of research and innovation. The institute is one of the world's leading research organisations in agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences, and is ranked 11th worldwide in ecology-environment. INRAE brings together a community of 12,000 people, with 268 scientific and service units located in 18 centres throughout France.
About the University of Lorraine
The multidisciplinary University of Lorraine has 62,000 students and 2,400 teacher-researchers on 38 campuses and 60 laboratories. It works to meet the societal challenges of tomorrow through its I-SITE Lorraine University of Excellence (LUE), several labels of excellence and its entrepreneurial vision. As an active player in its region, it is also involved internationally through its participation in the University of the Greater Region - UniGR and the European University EURECA-PRO.
