eLife Pathways: Building a collaborative open science ecosystem with integrated technology and services

The promise of open science publishing to revolutionise scholarly communication is hindered by significant technology, knowledge and expertise gaps. While the research community is eager for more open, transparent, and efficient ways to share research, there are a lack of suitable alternatives to the traditional, journal-centric publishing system, which stifles innovation and perpetuates inequitable knowledge sharing and participation. A major part of this problem is the lack of coordination among scholarly open-source infrastructure providers, which is preventing the building of foundational, robust infrastructure that benefits the entire scholarly community. To address this shortfall eLife proposes to establish a new independent initiative called eLife Pathways, to focus on building a diverse and inclusive publishing ecosystem for all. By strengthening existing and establishing new collaborations, we will serve the community to co-create a scholarly communication ecosystem where research is assessed responsibly, knowledge is shared equitably, and innovation thrives. We will deliver (i) community- validated enhancements to our existing software connecting it with key open- source infrastructures to accelerate adoption and improve ecosystem interoperability, (ii) co-develop an open-source tool that enables any journal in the world to produce high-quality, standards-compliant JATS XML and (iii) provide technology and expert support to advance critical community projects.