Beyond the Journal Awards

Overview

Academic journals slow discovery, reward prestige over truth, and lock publicly-funded knowledge behind paywalls. Many people are already demonstrating better ways of working. They are sharing results openly, testing ideas in real time, and building communities that make science faster and more transparent.

We want to recognize, celebrate, and support those efforts. If you are a practitioner experimenting with novel ways to distribute and share your scientific work, testing unconventional channels, pioneering new formats for research dissemination, or exploring alternative pathways to reach relevant communities, we would like to hear from you.

What we’re doing

We are launching the Beyond the Journal award program to support people who are already experimenting with pushing the boundaries of preprints. We are looking for:

• Scientists, engineers, and practitioners sharing research as it happens instead of waiting months or years for publication

• People building open communities around data, methods, and experiments

• Creators who are testing new formats such as blogs, videos, public peer review, or lab notes

• Anyone showing that rigorous science does not require the stamp of a prestigious journal

• Practitioners exploring new approaches we haven’t imagined yet

Selected applicants will receive:

• An award amount of $10,000 or $25,000 to further their project and work

• Recognition as leaders in the future of science communication & participation

• Opportunities to connect with others who are working in the same direction

This program supports practitioners who are directly testing new ways to communicate science—someone who is already doing the work. If you work on infrastructure, such as platforms, tools, or standards, please consider the Navigation Fund Open Science Program, which aligns more closely with this type of work. We do not support general science communication efforts through this program.

Why this matters now

Journals have become bottlenecks. They rely on free labor, restrict access, and drain resources that could instead support actual research.

Open practices already prove that science can move faster without them. In July 2023, researchers in South Korea posted preprints claiming they had achieved room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductivity using a modified lead-apatite material. The claim spread instantly across social media, drawing millions of views and raising hopes for lossless power grids and levitating trains. Within days, labs worldwide tried to reproduce the results, some reporting hints of support while many others found nothing. Careful scrutiny quickly exposed flaws in the data and inconsistencies in the methods. By August, the claim had collapsed.

The entire cycle, from headline-grabbing discovery to thorough debunking, unfolded in about three weeks. Under the journal system, that process would likely have taken years.

This is how science should work: ideas tested quickly and openly, truth established through scrutiny, not by a masthead. But the people building these new paths need time and support.

Tell us about your work

If you are a practitioner breaking away from the journal system, we want to know what you are doing. Share your approach, how you communicate, and how others are engaging with your work.

Award Tiers:

$10,000  (5x awards)
$25,000 (2x awards)

Award Sponsors: