SAM #RFP1823593

NIH Solicitation for Peer Review and Advisory Services for New Open-Access Journal

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of the Director, is seeking peer review support and advisory services to launch the Journal of Replication and Reproducibility (JRR), a diamond open-access scholarly journal focused on replication studies and research reproducibility. - Government Buyer: - National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of the Director, Office of Acquisitions - No specific OEMs or commercial vendors are named in the solicitation - Services Requested: - Recruitment and recommendation of editorial leadership (Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Advisory Committee) - Development of editorial governance structure and onboarding materials - Design and validation of an open peer-review framework, including best-practice research and focus groups - Creation of innovative publishing products and services for replication studies, including market assessment and pilot program design - Support for marketing, launch strategy, stakeholder engagement, and performance monitoring - Development of rigorous, ethical, and transparent peer-review policies, workflows, and training materials - Unique/Notable Requirements: - All materials, workflows, and processes must be newly created for JRR (no existing templates or procedures) - The journal will be diamond open-access: all costs covered by NIH, with no author publication charges or subscriptions - Permanent repository required for each paper, including all supporting materials for replication and validation - Contractor must provide all necessary resources (no government-furnished equipment) - Compliance with WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards and data security requirements

Description

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is preparing to launch a new scholarly journal and publishing platform focused on the reproducibility space. The Journal of Replication and Reproducibility (JRR) will address a major gap in scientific publishing: the lack of incentives, visibility, and infrastructure for replication research. By sponsoring replication studies as well as publishing studies from outside groups and authors, and combining full-service publication with an integrated open and interactive repository for data, methods, software, and materials for both internal and external studies, JRR will become a trusted global platform for transparent and verifiable science.

JRR will be an online only, diamond open-access scientific journal and platform dedicated to publishing direct replication studies, conceptual replication studies, reproducibility analyses, null results and negative findings, and registered replication reports. Each paper will be accompanied by a mandatory, permanent repository hosted by JRR that includes all supporting materials necessary to replicate and validate the claims made in the paper.

As a diamond open-access journal, JRR will have no author publication charges, no pay-per-view purchases, and no subscriptions. All content will be freely available to anyone visiting the website, as all costs will be covered by the NIH.

1.1. Current Processes and Specifications: As a new endeavor, there are no existing workflows or procedures attached to this program. All materials will be newly created for JRR.

2.  OBJECTIVES: The basic service objective is to provide strategic, operational, and advisory services to support the development of a high-quality scholarly publishing program with an emphasis on research integrity, transparency, innovation in peer review, and scientific reproducibility.

As a new endeavor, JRR does not have the benefit of an established editorial board, peer review frameworks and procedures, or a recognized presence in the scholarly publishing industry. This requirement will address those gaps to allow for a successful building and launch of the program over the next year.

The objectives of this contract are to:

Establish a world-class editorial leadership structure. Design and validate an open peer-review framework. Develop innovative publishing products focused on replication studies and research reproducibility. Support the marketing and launch of the journal and associated programs. Develop rigorous, ethical, and transparent peer-review policies and workflows.

Please see the attached CSS, Performance Work Statement and the Evaluaion Criteria for complete details and specifications.

View original listing