Redefining Publishing: Practical pathways to open science
Redefining publishing for the Open Science era
Scholarly communication is at an inflection point. Research is more collaborative, computational, international, and dependent on shared infrastructure than at any point in its history. Yet while open science policies have advanced, the systems of scholarly communication, research assessment, and funding have evolved more slowly.
PLOS's 18-month Redefining Publishing project explores how publishing can better support open science by moving beyond the article as the primary unit of value and beyond APC-based models as the dominant mechanism for funding open access.
Developed with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the report brings together economic analysis, global convenings, stakeholder consultation, and user-centered design to identify practical pathways for change.
Key findings
Open science creates value when reuse is practical at scale
The knowledge stack can support broader recognition of research contributions
Publishers have a role in supporting transparency and quality signals for non-article outputs
Regional pathways and codevelopment are essential
Business model reform is an important lever for broader participation
A reflection from Alison Mudditt
PLOS CEO Alison Mudditt reflects on why open science now requires publishing systems that do more than provide access — systems that make research outputs visible, connected, reusable, and appropriately credited.
PLOS has always been about a simple, radical idea: science works better when it’s open.
When PLOS was founded 25 years ago, scholarly communication stood at an inflection point. Digital technologies were reshaping how research was conducted—enabling ever-larger datasets, unlocking new analytical power, and connecting researchers across borders in ways previously unimaginable. At the same time, the shift to digital distribution created the possibility of making knowledge freely accessible to anyone with an internet connection, and to the machines that increasingly help us interpret it. Continue reading...
Why publishing needs to evolve
Alison introduces the thinking behind Redefining Publishing and reflects on what open science now asks of scholarly communication.
Redefining Publishing
The project set out to test whether publishing could better recognize contributions beyond the article, in ways that more accurately reflect how research is conducted, and, whether more inclusive and sustainable business model approaches could help broaden participation in open science.
