Episciences

Episciences is a French open-science platform for publishing and peer review, established in 2013 by the Centre pour la communication scientifique directe (CCSD). Its central purpose is to support overlay journals: open-access electronic journals whose articles are selected from manuscripts already deposited in public or community research repositories rather than being submitted through a conventional closed publishing workflow. The model allows journals to add editorial selection, peer review, versioning, and publication metadata while preserving the underlying repository record as a durable source for the article. Authors submit papers to participating Episciences journals through repositories such as HAL, arXiv, and Zenodo. When a paper is accepted, the source repository record is updated with the journal and publication information, creating a connection between open repositories and formal scholarly communication. Since 2023, the platform has also supported submissions from the bioRxiv and medRxiv preprint services. Reference materials also describe interoperability with Software Heritage and with research-data repositories using Dataverse; support for the Cryptology ePrint Archive is identified from 2026. Episciences functions both as a publishing service and as technical infrastructure for editorial workflows. Its software is developed as open source under the GNU General Public License version 3 and is available through GitHub. The platform is intended to reduce dependence on proprietary publishing systems, make peer review compatible with open repositories, and provide journals with tools for editorial management and publication without requiring a conventional commercial journal-hosting model. The service covers a broad range of scholarly fields. Journals associated with the platform include titles in biomechanics, earth and environmental sciences, health sciences, computer science and applied mathematics, mathematics, mechanical engineering, physics, conference proceedings, and the social sciences and humanities. Some journals were created specifically for Episciences, while others migrated from existing publishing arrangements. According to the supplied reference material, the platform hosted more than 37 journals and had published over 6,800 articles by 2024. The same material reports that by the end of 2025 it had reached 45 journals and more than 7,500 published articles. A further reference to 2026 describes 46 current or planned journals. These figures reflect the continuing expansion of the platform's open-access journal network, although the precise count may vary according to whether planned titles are included.

Episciences was established in 2013 by the Centre pour la communication scientifique directe, commonly abbreviated as CCSD, a French organization associated with the dissemination of scholarly communication. The platform was created to support a form of journal publishing built around open repositories. Instead of treating the journal website as the primary location where an article is deposited, Episciences enables journals to select and review articles that are already available in repositories such as HAL, arXiv, and Zenodo. This model is generally described as overlay publishing. An overlay journal provides editorial certification, peer review, and publication metadata over content that remains hosted in an external repository. Within the Episciences workflow, authors submit an existing repository item to a participating journal. If the manuscript is accepted, the source record is enriched with details identifying the journal and its publication status. The approach links the preservation and discoverability functions of repositories with the quality-control and scholarly-record functions of journals. The platform also serves as technical infrastructure for editorial and peer-review operations. Its software is developed under the GPLv3 open-source license and is available through GitHub. This open development model is consistent with the platform's wider open-science orientation and allows its technical architecture to be inspected, reused, and developed by the research community. Episciences is therefore more than a directory of journals: it provides the systems through which journals manage submissions, reviews, decisions, and publication records. Over time, the platform broadened its repository ecosystem. In addition to HAL, arXiv, and Zenodo, the reference material identifies interoperability with Software Heritage and with research-data repositories based on Dataverse. From 2023, Episciences also accepted submissions originating from bioRxiv and medRxiv, extending its reach to biomedical preprints. Support for the Cryptology ePrint Archive is identified from 2026. Episciences has been used across a wide range of academic areas, including biomechanics, earth sciences, environmental research, health sciences, informatics, applied mathematics, mathematics, mechanical engineering, physics, conference proceedings, and the social sciences and humanities. The platform's journal network includes titles launched directly within the Episciences environment as well as established journals that moved to it from other publishing arrangements. The supplied reference material reports that Episciences hosted more than 37 journals and had published over 6,800 articles in 2024. It further reports that the platform reached 45 journals and more than 7,500 articles by the end of 2025, with 46 current or planned journals described for 2026. These figures indicate continued growth, although counts can differ depending on whether planned journals and other categories are included. The platform's development reflects the broader open-science movement's effort to make scholarly publishing more interoperable, repository-compatible, and less dependent on proprietary commercial infrastructure.

• 2026

  Cryptology ePrint Archive support

  [1]Episciencesen.wikipedia.org

  The platform is reported to support the Cryptology ePrint Archive as an additional repository source.

• 2025

  Platform reaches 45 journals and over 7,500 articles

  [1]Episciencesen.wikipedia.org

  By the end of the year, Episciences is reported to have 45 journals and more than 7,500 published articles.

• 2024

  Platform passes 37 journals and 6,800 articles

  [1]Episciencesen.wikipedia.org

  Reference material records more than 37 hosted journals and over 6,800 published articles.

• 2023

  BioRxiv and MedRxiv integration

  [1]Episciencesen.wikipedia.org

  The platform adds support for submissions from the bioRxiv and medRxiv preprint repositories.

• 2013

  Episciences is established

  [1]Episciencesen.wikipedia.org

  The Centre pour la communication scientifique directe establishes Episciences as an open-access platform supporting repository-based scholarly journals and peer review.

Episciences positions itself as open, repository-centered infrastructure for scholarly publishing. Its distinctive proposition is to combine peer review and journal certification with articles stored in open repositories, supporting transparent and interoperable research communication rather than a traditional publisher-controlled content silo.

• Open-access scholarly journals · 2013

  Episciences overlay journals

  The platform hosts open-access electronic journals that select and peer-review articles deposited in external repositories. Journals can provide formal publication and certification while the article remains connected to its repository record. The network spans scientific, technical, medical, and humanities disciplines, and includes both journals created for Episciences and existing titles that migrated to the platform.

• Publishing infrastructure · 2013

  Repository-linked submission workflow

  Authors submit repository-hosted articles to participating journals for editorial selection and peer review. Supported sources include HAL, arXiv, Zenodo, bioRxiv, and medRxiv, with additional interoperability involving research-data and software archives. Accepted articles receive publication information through updates to the corresponding repository record.

• Open-source software · 2013

  Open-source editorial and peer-review software

  Episciences provides the technical systems used to operate its journals and peer-review processes. The software is developed under the GPLv3 license and is available through GitHub, reflecting the project's emphasis on reusable and inspectable open-science infrastructure.

• 2026

  Add Cryptology ePrint Archive supportStrategy

  Background

  Episciences continued developing its repository-centered publishing model by adding connections to further disciplinary archives.

  Action taken

  Reference material identifies support for the Cryptology ePrint Archive from 2026.

  Aftermath

  The change further extends the platform's potential coverage of repository-based journals in computer science and cryptology.

  Source

• 2023

  Expand biomedical repository interoperabilityStrategy

  Background

  The platform's overlay-journal model depends on connections with open repositories and preprint servers. Biomedical publishing required access to the bioRxiv and medRxiv ecosystems.

  Action taken

  Episciences added support for submissions from bioRxiv and medRxiv.

  Aftermath

  The integration broadened the range of disciplines and preprint sources available to journals using the platform.

  Source

1. 1Episciencesen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Episciences official websiteepisciences.org