Towards OPERAS ERIC: Poland and France for Open Scholarly Communication in Europe

Contemporary scholarly communication, dominated by commercial publishers, raises costs, limits diversity, and makes academic development dependent on market interests. An alternative is provided by open models, which require a stable infrastructure capable of competing with commercial solutions. The OPERAS infrastructure (Open scholarly communication in the European Research Area for social sciences and humanities) is included on the ESFRI Roadmap of European Research Infrastructures and aims to obtain ERIC status in 2027. OPERAS is a consortium of more than 60 research institutions from 22 countries. The Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN) coordinates OPERAS-PL, the national node of the infrastructure, which brings together research institutions from across Poland (including the University of Warsaw, University of Silesia, OPI PIB, and PCSS).

Together with CNRS, IBL PAN contributes to the development of OPERAS as an infrastructure dedicated to the social sciences and humanities. In connection with its further growth, a strategic meeting will be held in France in October 2026, co-organized by IBL PAN, CNRS, and OPERAS, with the active participation of representatives of ministries from countries supporting OPERAS, including Poland and France. The first part of the meeting will focus on developing scenarios for co-hosting the infrastructure, including the location of its key components in Poland and France.