About

Founded in October 2019 with the support of the Shuttleworth Foundation, Liberate Science is born from the idea that we need to grow sustainable alternatives if we want to substantially improve research.

Our journey started by growing a realistic alternative to article publishing: Modular publishing. After our initial pilot, we launched the first modular publishing platform in February 2022. This made it possible for anyone to publish each step of the research process, whether it was text or not. ResearchEquals also became our springboard for other alternatives in publishing, like overlay journals.

In 2022, we launched our theory of change, explicitly taking into account that improving research is an ongoing power struggle. Improving research is not a one-way process - it improves and regresses continuously. We focus on the power dynamics, because it matters that power is restructured, not only shifted.

In 2023, we introduced ResearchEquals supporting memberships to shape our own power dynamics with intent. Who decides what ResearchEquals becomes? The developers, the business team, but also our supporters. At our quarterly assemblies we discuss options and dive in. In our first year, four institutions and seven individuals joined to do so.

Liberate Science is a for-profit business, with the explicit motivation to be financially, socially, and ecologically self-sustaining. We do this by providing support services for projects directly and building our product revenue.

We are a generative organization, paying forward our (future) profits to create the compost for more alternatives to grow. Our vision is to create and support sustainable alternatives for everything in the research pipeline.

Our journey is ongoing and we're thrilled if you choose to join us.