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!”