On the road to sustainability: paving the way for OPERAS as an efficient open Social Sciences and Humanities scholarly communication Research Infrastructure

Project Information

OPERAS-PLUS

Grant agreement ID: 101079608

DOI

10.3030/101079608

Project closed

EC signature date 18 August 2022

Start date 1 September 2022

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• Research infrastructures

Total cost

€ 3 301 831,25

EU contribution

€ 2 747 864,00

Coordinated by

MAX WEBER STIFTUNG DEUTSCHE GEISTESWISSENSCHAFTLICHE INSTITUTE IM AUSLAND
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - OPERAS-PLUS (On the road to sustainability: paving the way for OPERAS as an efficient open Social Sciences and Humanities scholarly communication Research Infrastructure)

Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The OPERAS-PLUS project aimed at supporting the distributed OPERAS Research Infrastructure in its preparatory phase on its way towards the implementation as an ERIC.

OPERAS is the Research Infrastructure dedicated to support open scholarly communication for the Social Sciences and the Humanities (SSH) in the European Research Area (ERA). Its mission is to coordinate and federate resources in Europe to efficiently address the scholarly communication needs of European researchers in the field of SSH. OPERAS’ aim is to make Open Science a reality for research in the SSH and achieve a scholarly communication system where knowledge produced in the SSH benefits researchers, academics, students and more generally the whole society across Europe and worldwide, without barriers.
OPERAS was selected in 2021 as a new infrastructure on the ESFRI Roadmap for the excellence of its scientific case and for its strategic importance for the European Research Area and the structuring of the European research infrastructure ecosystem. OPERAS is now on its path to becoming operational as an ERIC in 2028.

The project aimed at supporting this process and the development of the infrastructure in its preparatory phase and on its way towards implementation as an ERIC. It empowered OPERAS to further:

● Strengthen its governance structure in regard to financial, legal and human resources
● Support the network of national nodes and their national activities
● Develop the services portfolio providing both required technology and a monitoring system for services development
● Maximise OPERAS’ impact in the ERA and at the international level by extending it beyond its current scope and onboarding new members and countries in the infrastructure.

The project stands in the continuity of work already realised through former projects (OPERAS-D, OPERAS-P, HIRMEOS, TRIPLE) and its impact can be strengthened by collaboration with running projects (COESO, DIAMAS, and others).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The OPERAS services were structured in a services catalogue and service portfolio and the Metrics, Pathfinder, PRISM and the Translation (now called Mondaecus) services were further developed over the course of the project. At the end of the project, there are 9 external services (PRISM, Pathfinder, Metrics, Hypotheses, GoTriple, VERA, Mondaecus, previously named translation service, Innovation Lab, Fiscal Hosting) and 3 internal services (FitSM training, Messaging/Mattermost, OPERAS ID).
By the third quarter 2025: 9 services are now in production and 3 in Beta.

The status of each service by quarter 3 2025 (at the end of the project), compared to the beginning in Sep 2022, is summarised below:
1. GoTriple: Beta -> Production
2. Metrics: Beta -> Production
3. VERA: Design -> Production
4. Pathfinder: Design -> Production
5. Hypotheses: Production -> Production (support for continual service improvement)
6. Fiscal Hosting: N/A -> Beta
7. PRISM: Beta -> Production
8. Mondaecus (Translation Service): Design -> Beta
9. Innovation Lab: N/A -> Beta
10. FitSM Training: N/A -> Production
11. Messaging: N/A -> Production
12. OPERAS ID: N/A -> Production

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

OPERAS-PLUS provided OPERAS the means it needs to contribute to:

● strengthening the scientific excellence, performance and efficiency of the European Research Area
● providing disruptive research, and breakthrough science and innovation through cutting-edge, interconnected and sustainable Research Infrastructures
● and establishing a coordinated Research Infrastructure capacity among countries and regions.

To obtain this result, OPERAS-PLUS defined two paths toward impact through the establishment of the infrastructure itself and the development of the infrastructure services.

Furthermore, OPERAS-PLUS uniquely contributed to expected outcomes and destination impacts:

● Outcome 1: structuring effect on ERA
● Outcome 2: the scientific excellence of the European landscape of sustainable Research Infrastructure enhances problem solving capacities to address challenges in science, industry and society
● Outcome 3: solid ground for the decision making on new research infrastructures is available to Member States and Associated Countries, their funding bodies and other relevant stakeholders
● Outcome 4: long-term perspective for Research Infrastructure investments
● Outcome 5: a consistent and well-functioning European research infrastructures ecosystem through the development of synergies and complementarities between new and existing research infrastructures, including technology infrastructures and infrastructures financed by ERDF

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