Jisc raises the curtain on OPERAS in the UK
OPERAS is a European research infrastructure that supports greater visibility and impact across social sciences and humanities (SSH).
As the European Research Infrastructure dedicated to supporting open scholarly communication in SSH within the European Research Area (ERA), OPERAS works to overcome the disconnect between funding and societal impact for social sciences and humanities research and addresses the needs of researchers through collaboration and partnerships. Jisc, through its role as the UK national node, provides a connection point for UK based members of OPERAS to their counterparts in the ERA.
SSH disciplines often receive less funding compared to STEM fields. This disparity can limit the scope and impact of SSH research. Through OPERAS, researchers working in the fields of SSH can ensure their work is visible to a wider audience and can make a greater difference.
As well as hosting a community of like-minded researchers, students, academics and societal partners, OPERAS also offers services to discover open scholarly publications, improve transparency of peer-review practices, and to measure the usage and impact of open-access research.
By collaborating with multiple partners, and through open-access, OPERAS allows knowledge generated in SSH to be freely available to academics, students, and society at large.
The key benefits for UK organisations joining OPERAS include:
- Innovative services and infrastructure: OPERAS enhances the capacity of UK organisations to access innovative open-access services across Europe
- Access to EU funding: it offers substantial financial support for open-access initiatives and collaborative projects with European partners
- Access to the EU market: it offers increased visibility and potential for collaboration across the EU, providing opportunities for scaling up services and expanding the user base
Frank Manista, policy and engagement manager at Jisc, says:
“Jisc's participation in OPERAS, and in its role as the UK's national node, shows Jisc's commitment to promoting and supporting activities in SSH and the Arts.
“OPERAS' mission is to coordinate and integrate European resources to address the scholarly communication needs of researchers in SSH effectively through collaboration with multiple partners and open-access, ensuring that knowledge generated in the SSH is freely available to academics, students, and society at large. OPERAS seeks to empower researchers in SSH and ensure that their work is accessible and impactful across societal sectors.
“OPERAS-UK will be the connection point between UK researchers and the OPERAS community in the European Research Area (ERA) helping to identify needs, as well as to provide services and training. It will link UK researchers with national services and infrastructures at the European level as well as OPERAS members across 20 countries in the ERA.
“Platforms like Thoth (a metadata management system), the Open Book Collective (OBC), and the Open Library of Humanities (OLH), which are existing OPERAS members, align with OPERAS’ vision of inclusive and barrier-free scholarly communication and will benefit from access to an international market and network of researchers.”
Kevin Sanders, Open Book Collective, says:
“The Open Book Collective (OBC) were delighted to become an Ordinary Member of OPERAS in 2024. In part, this is because OPERAS is a vital research infrastructure that actively supports open scholarly communication in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) across the European Research Area. However, OPERAS’ values, mission, and approach to supporting open research dovetails neatly with OBC's through its vibrant and diverse community of practice.
“OPERAS helps to efficiently coordinate scholarly communication activities. This enables a wide range of people and organisations to work collectively to address the challenges of an ever-evolving open research landscape. Yet OPERAS is much more than an important network; it also links together open services, helping to unlock resources and exposing them to the wider open research community of communities.”
For more information on how to join OPERAS as a UK member, sign up to Jisc’s free introductory webinar, or register for the OPERAS-UK community of practice to join the conversation.