Copernicus Publications joins the PRC alliance at launch

28 October 2026

Copernicus Publications is delighted to be among the founding members of the newly formed Publish, Review, Curate (PRC) Alliance, launched on 28 October 2026.

The PRC Alliance is a community of stakeholders who share a common vision: fostering a researcher-centred model for scholarly publishing. The alliance advocates a publishing approach in which research outputs are made openly available first, followed by open review and curation. If that sounds familiar, it is because Copernicus Publications has been proud to embrace such a model for 25 years. In September of 2001, we published our first preprint, followed by our Interactive Public Peer Review, editorial assessment, and eventual journal publication. We have remained committed to this approach ever since.

What began as an experiment has evolved into a portfolio of internationally respected, community-driven journals. Several rank among the most influential in their respective fields, and all have adopted our variation of the Publish, Review, Curate vision. Together, they publish more than 5,000 preprints for public discussion each year, alongside openly available peer-review reports, editorial decisions, and manuscript versions.

This demonstrates that the PRC model need not be confined to niche initiatives but can successfully be adapted for large communities, fulfil researchers’ needs for rapid communication, and may, at the same time, be commercially sustainable.

Finally, through rigorous transparency, open review, and public accountability this approach embeds research integrity into the very structure of the publishing process. Stewardship and integrity become not merely matters of policy but conscious system design choices. We are proud to work alongside our society partners to continue advancing this joint vision for scholarly communication.

Joining the PRC Alliance is therefore a logical step for Copernicus Publications. We are encouraged to see growing recognition that variations of Publish, Review, Curate represent a mature and scalable model for scholarly communication. At the same time, we look forward to learning from and collaborating with fellow alliance members. By sharing experiences, expertise, and best practices across different disciplines and publishing environments, we hope to contribute to the continued development and wider adoption of researcher-centred, community-driven publishing.