Jisc introduces OPERAS in the UK to strengthen social sciences and humanities research

Jisc, the UK’s national node for OPERAS, has announced the launch of OPERAS in the UK, a European research infrastructure designed to enhance the visibility and impact of research in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). OPERAS provides a platform to bridge the gap between funding and societal impact for SSH research, offering valuable support for researchers through collaboration and partnerships across Europe.

As a part of the European Research Area (ERA), OPERAS aims to address the unique challenges faced by SSH disciplines, which often receive less funding compared to STEM fields. This funding disparity has limited the scope and influence of SSH research, but OPERAS seeks to change that by ensuring that SSH research is accessible to a wider audience and has a greater societal impact.

Through OPERAS, researchers in the SSH fields gain access to a supportive community of like-minded scholars, students, academics, and societal partners. The infrastructure provides key services to discover open scholarly publications, improve the transparency of peer-review practices, and measure the usage and impact of open-access research. The goal is to ensure that knowledge generated within SSH disciplines is freely available to academics, students, and the wider public.

By joining OPERAS, UK organizations stand to benefit in several ways:

Innovative Services and Infrastructure: OPERAS offers UK organizations enhanced access to cutting-edge open-access services across Europe.

Access to EU Funding: UK researchers and organizations will have the opportunity to access substantial financial support for open-access initiatives and collaborative projects with European partners.

Access to the EU Market: OPERAS opens up increased visibility and collaboration opportunities across the EU, allowing UK researchers to scale services and expand their user base.

OPERAS-UK will serve as the key connection point between UK researchers and the wider OPERAS community in the European Research Area. It will help identify the needs of UK researchers and provide essential services and training to link them with national services and infrastructures across Europe. UK-based researchers will also have the opportunity to collaborate with members of OPERAS across 20 countries.

Existing OPERAS members, such as Thoth (a metadata management system), the Open Book Collective (OBC), and the Open Library of Humanities (OLH), share OPERAS' vision of inclusive and barrier-free scholarly communication. These platforms will benefit from increased visibility and access to an international network of researchers.

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