Pensoft’s journal Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) has received the SPARC Innovator Award for June 2016. The awarding body SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) is a global coalition committed to promoting openness for research and education. Their bi-annual Innovator Award goes to individuals and initiatives who dare to challenge the status quo in scholarly communication.
From the very start RIO was set to innovate traditional science publishing practices by opening up for publications from across the research cycle. The journal’s list of publication types includes Ideas, Grant Proposals, Methods, Data, PhD Project Plans, Project Reports and Communication Briefs.
By publishing results from every step of the research life-span, RIO not only provides authors an opportunity to get credit for their efforts, but also introduces a publishing environment that ensures maximum transparency and encourages exchange of ideas and expertise. Special functionality allows linking each published output to UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to map its social relevance and promote interdisciplinary research.
To ensure maximum transparency of the publishing process, RIO provides a multi-option peer-review, including options for author-supplied pre-submission and public post-publication peer-reviews. All these innovations are available in a unique online XML-based collaborative writing, reviewing, editing and publishing environment powered by the ARPHA Publishing Platform.
The SPARC Innovator program recognizes advances in open access, open education and open data propelled by an individual, institution, or group. Typically, these advances exemplify SPARC’s principles by challenging the status quo for the benefit of researchers, libraries, universities, and the public. SPARC Innovators have included David Wiley,The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Open Access Button, Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), John Willinsky, the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), among others.