OpenCon has partnered with Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO), an online Open Science Journal which publishes all outputs of the research cycle. Any workshop reports that fall under OpenCon - including satellite events - can be published in RIO without having to pay the usual article processing charge (APC). Workshop reports are a great way of digitally archiving the key activities and outcomes of your event, as well as demonstrating the impact of your event to stakeholders and the public. Here we outline the steps to publishing a report online in RIO, as well as information a workshop report typically would include.  

Note: Unfortunately at the moment, RIO only supports workshop reports written in English; if you require assistance with writing a report in English, please let us know - we may be able to support.

1. Workshop Report Components
2. Example Workshop Reports
3. Instructions from the RIO Editorial Office 

Workshop Report Components

• Abstract: A brief overview of your event - assume no previous knowledge about OpenCon or OpenCon satellite events from the reader.

• Introduction/Background: Provide some context for your event. You could include information on :

  • When did the meeting take place?

  • Provide a general overview of why the meeting was organized and some context

    • Was it building off of existing Open initiatives in the regional/institutional community?

    • What was the state of Openness of research & education in the regional/institutional community prior to the event?

    • Who organized the event?

    • What was the motivation behind the event?

• Meeting Goals:

  • What did you want your event to achieve?  Were there broad goals?

  • Or, were there any specific outputs or measurable outcomes you were looking for?  Examples might include (but are not limited to)

    • Build an OER through a textbook hackathon

    • Plan or draft a preliminary Open Access policy for your institution, department, or faculty

    • Train X number of students to incorporate Open Science practices into their workflow

    • Have participants leave with an increased understanding of the importance of Open Access

    • Have X number of researchers commit to depositing and making their works Open after the meeting.

    • Start a local meetup group from interested participants at the meeting that will convene regularly in the future (e.g. on a monthly basis).

• Meeting Participants:

  • If participants consent to this, you can consider publishing a participant list with names & affiliations of all attendees as an appendix to this article.

  • Alternatively, you can provide anonymous stats about your attendees: (e.g. number of participants, breakdown of occupation, career level, etc…). If you plan on doing this, make sure you collect this information during registration for your event!  

• Overview of Meeting Activities:

  • Here you could provide a summary of various agenda items (e.g. talks, workshops, breakout sessions)

• Meeting Outcomes:

  • What were the main outcomes of the meeting? Did you meet the meeting goals?

• Future Directions / Next Steps

  • Did you identify any actions or next steps to take after the meeting?  You could summarize your plan for moving forward in a paragraph or two here.

• References:  

  • Because this is a formal academic report, if you are including any videos, or mentioning any papers, tools, or software, make sure to cite them properly both in text as well as in a References section at the end of the report.

Example Workshop Reports

Below, you can find examples of workshop reports from various academic meetings:

4th European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON) Stakeholder Roundtable: Pathways to sustainability for EU BONs network of collaborators and technical infrastructure. Research Ideas and Outcomes 3: e11875 (24 Jan 2017) https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.3.e11875

Technical aspects of preprint services in the life sciences: a workshop report. Research Ideas and Outcomes 3: e11825 (16 Jan 2017) https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.3.e11825

Instructions from the RIO Editorial Office

1. To start writing a manuscript, please register/login either on Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) Journal’s website (http://riojournal.com) or in the ARPHA Writing Tool (http://arpha.pensoft.net).

2. Press on the "Start a manuscript" button which is available on either of the two websites.

3. You will be re-directed to the dashboard of journals and article templates, where you have to select Research Ideas and Outcomes.

4. Then you can select the manuscript template, which is most appropriate for your work. By pressing on the looking glass icon right to each template, you can see a demo structure of it.

5. Start writing and use the Tips and tricks concise guide if necessary, or contact the RIO’s editorial office via the Helpdesk/Feedback button which is on the top bar.

6. Please note that you can invite not only your coauthors via the ARPHA interface but also external non-author contributors (editors, reviewers, copyeditors, or just colleagues/friends) who might be interested to read/edit your manuscript during the authoring process!

7. When the manuscript is approved for submission, you can submit it to RIO at the click of a button. During submission, you have to select the OpenCon 2017 Collection to ensure your article becomes a part of the collection.

8. At the submission step when the Article Processing Charge has to be confirmed, please select "By prior direct contact with the journal I have a special agreement to get a full or partial fee waiver for this submission" and then add a sentence that the manuscript is a part of the OpenCon 2017 Collection.