Information For Readers

All content published in Nexus Open Research is immediately and permanently free to read, download, and reuse — by anyone, anywhere, without registration or subscription.

There are no paywalls, no embargo periods, and no institutional access requirements. Whether you are a researcher at a well-funded university, a clinician in a resource-limited setting, a policymaker, or a curious member of the public, you have the same access to every article we publish.

• No subscription fees. Reading is free to all users, globally and permanently.
• No registration required to read. Every article, figure, dataset link, and peer review report is openly accessible without creating an account.
• Reusable content. Articles are published under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY), meaning you may share, adapt, and build upon the work provided you give appropriate credit.
• Multiple formats. Articles are available as HTML, PDF, and — where applicable — in XML for interoperable downstream use.
  
  

Each article page is designed to give you the full scientific record in one place — not just the manuscript, but the data behind it, the review reports it has received, and any revised versions the authors have submitted since first publication.

Nexus Open Research uses a post-publication peer review model, which differs in important ways from the traditional journal workflow. Understanding this model helps you interpret the content you are reading.

In a conventional journal, an article is peer-reviewed in private before it is published — you only ever see the final, accepted version. Here, the article is published first, after passing rigorous in-house editorial checks, and is then reviewed openly by invited expert reviewers. This means that what you read may still be in active scientific dialogue.

• Publication does not imply peer endorsement. An article appearing on the platform has passed our editorial checks, but may not yet have received — or passed — external peer review. Check the Peer Review section of the article page to see its current review status.
• Reviewer identities are disclosed. All reviewers sign their reports and link their ORCID iD. Anonymous reviewing is not practised. This promotes accountability and enables you to assess the reviewers' expertise and potential interests.
• Review is ongoing. Reports may continue to appear after an article is first published. Revisiting the article page at a later date may reveal new scientific commentary.
• Peer review reports are citable. Each report carries its own DOI and can be cited independently of the article.

Each peer review report carries one of three verdicts:

Creating a free reader account takes less than a minute and ensures you never miss a new article in your field. Reading without an account will always remain possible.

Registration also allows you to:

• Set your subject-area preferences to receive targeted alerts rather than all-journal notifications.
• Track articles you are following across multiple issues and revisit them easily from your account dashboard.
• Express interest in serving as a peer reviewer (see Section 06).

All articles are immediately citable on publication and carry a permanent digital object identifier (DOI) that will never change, even if the article is subsequently revised.

Nexus Open Research invites subject-matter experts to join its open reviewer community. Reviewing here is public, signed, and citable — a meaningful contribution to the scientific record in its own right.

Peer review reports are published as standalone outputs with their own DOI, making your contribution visible, discoverable, and attributable to your ORCID profile. There are no anonymity provisions: you review under your own name and stand by your assessment.

• Eligibility. Reviewers are expected to hold a doctoral degree or equivalent research experience in the relevant field, and to have no undisclosed conflict of interest with the article under review.
• How to express interest. Indicate your willingness to review in the Roles section of your reader profile, or contact the editorial office directly. The editorial team will match you to submissions in your declared subject areas.
• What is expected. Reviewers are asked to assess scientific rigour, methodological soundness, and reproducibility — not novelty or perceived impact. A clear, substantiated verdict (Approved, Approved with Reservations, or Not Approved) is required alongside a written report.
• Recognition. Completed review reports are indexed, citable, and publicly linked to your ORCID record. The journal also acknowledges its reviewers collectively in an annual statement.