What approaches do research funders have towards alternative publishing platforms, and how important are they in the context of funders’ wider scholarly communication strategies?

Research Problem:

This is research question 1 developed for the “Innovating Scholarly Communication: Navigating the future of alternative publishing platform” project.

The following sub-questions will be explored:

What types of support or approaches do research funders put in place to support or encourage alternative publishing platforms? (e.g. financial support, inclusion in strategy, inclusion in recognition and reward, funder mandates)

What partnerships exist between funders and alternative publishing platforms?

What types of publications and formats are eligible for financial support?

To what extent, and how do funders support the publication of living documents, open peer review and non-traditional formats like datasets and code?

How is funding allocated for publishing on alternative platforms, if at all?

How do funders' strategic objectives align with their publication funding and policy decisions?

To what extent, and how are funders seeking to shape and/or change the scholarly publishing landscape through their strategies and funding decisions? How connected are these efforts within and between different funders?

How are funders involving researchers in shaping their strategies regarding the future of scholarly publishing?