Today the European Geosciences Union (EGU) and its partner Copernicus.org are announcing the launch of EGUsphere, a new online platform designed to increase visibility and boost discussion and collaboration within the Earth, planetary and space science community. EGUsphere will serve as a central repository for the abstracts and presentations from the Union’s annual General Assembly and other meetings, with the opportunity to engage in virtual discussions. In the coming months, additional capabilities will offer geoscientists the options to publish standard preprints as well as preprints that are being peer reviewed through the innovative, open-access process that EGU has pioneered.

“EGUsphere will be an innovative step forward for the Earth, planetary and space science community,” says EGU President Alberto Montanari. “I hope researchers around the globe will take advantage of the new platform to openly present and discuss their research. EGUsphere is an important step forward towards greener networking.”

Within the next couple of weeks, abstracts scheduled to be presented at EGU meetings, including the annual General Assembly, will receive a DOI and appear on the new platform. Starting in April, authors will also have the option of uploading their poster, PICO and oral presentations prior to or following each Union meeting.

“The platform will let each author decide whether or not they want to receive comments from the community on their meeting presentations,” says EGU President Alberto Montanari. This feedback, he says, can be used to help shape the presentations and to promote discussion about the impact of researchers’ work.

Geoscientists will be able to continue discussing presentations and post updated versions before, during and following each EGU meeting. All abstracts, presentations and comments will remain permanently archived and accessible on the platform. “EGUsphere will offer additional, long-term visibility for work submitted to the EGU General Assembly, with the added benefit of online discussions that will continue even after the meeting ends,” says EGU Programme Committee Chair Susanne Buiter. “I would like to encourage all our abstract authors to explore this exciting new opportunity!”

Later in 2020, authors will also have the ability to submit a preprint to EGUsphere for interactive open-access discussion. This new feature will be in addition to EGU’s current open-access public peer-review method, which will now be offered through the EGUsphere platform. In addition to uploading a standard preprint, authors will have the option to submit their preprint to one of EGU’s 19 well-established, open-access journals for publication. The final paper, along with the linked preprint and open discussion, will be added to the selected EGU journal’s catalogue upon publication. Authors will also be able to submit their manuscripts to other journals as well as post preprints without discussion or that they don’t intend to publish.

With the launch of EGUsphere, the European Geosciences Union expresses its commitment to collaborating with other digital geoscience repositories to provide the best possible publishing experience for authors and to facilitate the open dissemination of research findings. “The new platform builds on EGU’s 19 years of experience in public peer review and discussion,” says Montanari. “EGUsphere extends the options available for authors while helping facilitate an open, effective and impactful dissemination of scientific ideas and research findings, which benefits everyone.”

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is the leading organisation for Earth, planetary and space science research in Europe. With our partner organisations worldwide, we foster fundamental geoscience research, alongside applied research that addresses key societal and environmental challenges. Our vision is to realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet. We publish a number of diverse scientific journals, which use an innovative open access format, and organise topical meetings, and education and outreach activities. Follow the EGU on Twitter and Facebook.

• EGUsphere website