Yunnan Province in southwestern China is a global biodiversity hotspot, accommodating an incredible variety of plants and animals. It is also the heart of China’s coffee industry, with Yunnan accounting for almost all of the country’s coffee production. However, coffee plants are very common hosts for many types of fungi, which can act as harmful diseases, harmless residents, or natural recyclers – these factors can impact the plant’s health and how much coffee it produces.
A new study published in the open-access journal MycoKeys, and led by Mei-Yan Han of Chiang Mai University, revealed two novel species of Neohelicomyces fungi: Neohelicomyces coffeae and Neohelicomyces puerensis. While studying the fungi that live on Coffea arabica, the team spotted these unique organisms growing on dead coffee branches. This discovery underscores the need for further investigations into the fungal diversity of the region.
Both species are characterised by their coil-shaped structures which appear as glistening white patches on coffee plants. Specifically, N. coffeae features short stems and small, multi-sectioned spores, while N. puerensis is distinguished by its tightly coiled filaments and unbranched stems. While the former is named after the host genus Coffea, the latter references the locality in which both species were found: Pu’er City.
Neohelicomyces coffeae (GMB-W1490, holotype). Photo credit: Mei-Yan Han et al.
Neohelicomyces puerensis (GMB-W1485, holotype). Photo credit: Mei-Yan Han et al.
Importantly, these fungi are classified as saprophytic because they were found growing exclusively on the dead branches of coffee plants rather than on living tissue. Functioning as nature’s essential recyclers, they obtain their energy by breaking down complex organic materials like wood and cellulose. Therefore, by decomposing this dead matter, both play a vital role in the coffee ecosystem by unlocking trapped nutrients and returning them to the soil. This incentive subsequently helps support the growth of the surrounding living coffee plants.
Saprophytic fungi are additionally being studied as potential sources for new medicines and agricultural tools. Scientists have found that the family to which these new species belong, Tubeufiaceae, can produce natural chemicals that fight off bacteria, other fungi, and even certain types of cancer. Specifically, researchers have already discovered compounds related to Neohelicomyces species that show promise in slowing the growth of human cancer cells.
As of 2026, there are 36 known species of Neohelicomyces, with the vast majority found in China – particularly in Guizhou and Yunnan provinces – though they also appear in Europe and North America. By expanding their known diversity specifically in agricultural environments, researchers have shed light on their ecological potentials, and have called attention to their future biotechnological applications.
Following these discoveries, it is certain that the future of fungal research is starting to brew.
Original source:
Han M-Y, Yang J-Y, Karunarathna SC, Kumla J, Lu L, Zheng D-G, Elgorban AM, Alfagham AT, Yu F-Q, Dai D-Q, Zhang L-J, Suwannarach N, Tibpromma S (2026) Two new Neohelicomyces species (Tubeufiaceae, Tubeufiales) associated with Coffea arabica L. in Yunnan Province, China. MycoKeys 127: 343-362. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.127.173937
Berlin (Germany) and Sofia (Bulgaria), 10th February, 2026 – ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, and Pensoft Publishers, an independent open access publisher and provider of high-quality scholarly publishing services, today announced an expansion of their Journal Home partnership. Building on an earlier collaboration announced in 2023, the list now expands to 40 journals, covering the majority of Pensoft’s and partners’ journals using the publisher’s ARPHA Publishing Platform.
With most of Pensoft’s eligible partner journals choosing to participate, the expansion reflects strong demand for greater exposure and engagement opportunities, particularly among smaller and developing journals in niche research areas. Through Journal Home, partner publishers can reach more relevant audiences, improve discoverability, and connect more effectively with researchers worldwide.
Participating Pensoft journals will also benefit from:
Increased usage and readership, with full-text open access journal content seamlessly surfaced to highly relevant researcher communities across the ResearchGate platform.
Stronger engagement from new and returning authors, connecting partner journals, including specialist and emerging titles, with targeted researchers and potential authors throughout the research lifecycle.
Dedicated Journal Profiles and prominent placement of Pensoft journals to enhance visibility and branding, boosting recognition of partner journals with researcher communities around the world.
Improved author experience, with the automatic addition of published articles to author profiles, clearer insight into reader engagement, and greater opportunities for meaningful collaboration.
“Journal Home allows us to provide our partner journals with improved visibility and stronger connections with global researcher communities. Many of these journals serve highly specialised fields, and Journal Home helps make sure their articles reach the right researchers, who will benefit from them most.”
Lyubomir Penev, CEO and founder of Pensoft Publishers
“We’re pleased to expand our Journal Home partnership with Pensoft to support an increasing number of partner journals. By bringing these journals onto the platform, smaller and emerging titles can expand their reach, attract high-quality submissions, and connect with the most relevant researcher communities at key moments in their research journey.”
Robyn Mugridge, Head of Partnership Development at ResearchGate
For more information about Pensoft Publishers, please visit www.pensoft.net.
About ResearchGate
ResearchGate is the professional network for researchers. Over 25 million researchers use researchgate.net to share and discover research, build their networks, and advance their careers. Based in Berlin, ResearchGate was founded in 2008. Its mission is to connect the world of science and make research open to all.
About Pensoft Publishers
Pensoft is an independent, open-access scholarly publisher and technology provider, best known for its 40+ biodiversity journals, including ZooKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, PhytoKeys, MycoKeys, One Ecosystem, and Metabarcoding and Metagenomics. Ever since becoming the first to introduce semantic enrichments and hyperlinks within a scientific article in the field of biodiversity in 2010, Pensoft has been working on various tools and workflows designed to facilitate data findability, accessibility, discoverability and interoperability.
Prophy’s AI-driven discovery system will provide editors with a broader and more diverse pool of qualified peer reviewers based on automated semantic analysis.
In a new partnership between open-access scholarly publisher Pensoft and the AI-driven reviewer discovery system provider: Prophy, the editorial teams at all journals hosted on the publisher’s ARPHA Platform receive access to a broader and more diverse global pool of researchers.
The integration connects ARPHA’s editorial and peer review workflows with Prophy’s continuously updated database of millions of active, qualified researchers. As a result, editorial teams across more than 90 open-access peer-reviewed journals powered by ARPHA can now opt to enjoy data-driven reviewer recommendations based on structured analysis of researcher expertise and publication history, with matches based on each manuscript’s topic, field, and research focus.
This development responds to a growing challenge in scholarly publishing. As submission volumes rise, the pressure on a relatively small pool of frequently invited reviewers increases, which eventually leads to delays and reviewer fatigue. By expanding the pool of potential experts and improving how they are identified with the help of semantic analysis, the integration supports a more sustainable and balanced approach to peer review.
“By working with Prophy, we’re helping editors discover expertise that might otherwise be overlooked, opening the door to a more inclusive, well-distributed, and resilient peer review ecosystem. This is about using technology not to replace human judgment, but to support it in a smarter and more responsible way.”
Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, founder and CEO of Pensoft and ARPHA.
“We’re excited to work with Pensoft and ARPHA to bring smarter reviewer discovery to their editorial teams. Peer review should be efficient and fair, and this partnership helps with both. Editors can find the right expertise faster, which means less time searching and fewer delays. This integration helps editorial teams manage growing submission volumes without burning out their reviewer networks.”
Oleg Ruchayskiy, CEO of Prophy.
To further support editorial teams and client journals’ owners, Pensoft and ARPHA are offering the Prophy integration free of charge to all journals on the platform until the end of 2026.
The partnership reflects Pensoft and ARPHA’s continued focus on equipping journals with practical, forward-looking tools that strengthen peer review, support editors, and help ensure the long-term sustainability of scholarly publishing.
Stay up to date with the latest from Pensoft and ARPHA by subscribing to our blogs and following us on social media, including BlueSky, Facebook and Linkedin.
The agreement encompasses five key research and medical bodies, and allows corresponding authors to publish their findings without individual Article Processing Charges.
Pensoft and the University of Zurichhave signed a comprehensive Open Access (OA) agreement, starting a partnership that enables researchers at participating institutions to publish their findings in Pensoft’s peer-reviewed journals without incurring individual Article Processing Charges (APCs).
Under this new framework, publishing costs for corresponding authors affiliated with the respective institutions are 100% covered by a centralised institutional deposit secured by the University of Zurich. By removing financial barriers, the agreement encourages scientists to disseminate their work to both the academic community and the wider public, making research immediately and freely available upon publication.
This initiative ensures that research is shared under open licences in strict accordance with the FAIR principles—making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
“We are excited to start this partnership with the University of Zurich and sign an agreement that reflects our strong commitment to inclusive and equitable open science. By supporting researcher-driven publishing, we continue to foster a sustainable environment for high-impact scientific communication.”
Prof. Lyubomir Penev, CEO of Pensoft
“We are pleased to extend our portfolio of gold open access journals, in which our researchers can publish their findings without paying individual APCs. We thereby strengthen our commitment to open research information.”
University Library Zurich
Are you affiliated with a research institution operating with OA agreements? Is your institution interested in helping resident researchers navigate the complex processes underpinning academic publishing and knowledge sharing? Reach out to <publishing@pensoft.net> to discuss a potential collaboration.
The agreement covers almost 100 institutions, including Karolinska Institutet, Lund University, Uppsala University, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Pensoft and the Bibsam Consortium, operated by the National Library of Sweden, are pleased to announce the signing of a comprehensive Open Access (OA) agreement, marking a significant step in the transition towards a more transparent and open scholarly publishing landscape in Sweden.
Thanks to this move, researchers at participating institutions will be able to publish their findings in 65 journals published by Pensoft or using its advanced publishing platform ARPHA, including flagship titles such as ZooKeys, PhytoKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, NeoBiota and IMA Fungus, without incurring individual article processing charges (APCs).
All authors affiliated with participating institutions can benefit from this agreement, with publishing costs 100% covered by an institutional deposit secured by the National Library of Sweden.
Unlike subscription-based systems, an OA framework ensures that scientific findings are immediately and freely available to the global community, supporting the global shift toward accessible science and adhering to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).
OA agreements like this one reduce the financial burden on scientists and encourage them to share their work with both academia and the wider public, ultimately lowering barriers to sharing knowledge in a time when scientific input is key to resolving global challenges.
“We are excited to start this partnership with Bisbam and sign an agreement that reflects our strong commitment to open science. By supporting researcher-driven publishing, we continue to foster a sustainable environment for high-impact scientific communication.”
Prof. Lyubomir Penev, CEO of Pensoft
“We are delighted to announce the addition of Pensoft Publishers to our portfolio of nationally funded agreements for 2026. This represents an important step towards achieving full open access to scientific publications in Sweden.”
Niklas Willén, License Manager at Bibsam Consortium and National Library of Sweden
Are you affiliated with a research institution operating with OA agreements? Is your institution interested in helping resident researchers navigate the complex processes underpinning academic publishing and knowledge sharing? Reach out to <publishing@pensoft.net> to discuss a potential collaboration.
Continuing its tradition, Pensoft Publishers honors its authors and editors with awards for the most cited 3-year-old articles and the most active editors of 2025.
As per tradition, every January we at Pensoft Publishers celebrate the achievements of our authors and editors through our annual award initiative, which spotlights the most cited articles from several flagship journals and recognizes some of our most dedicated editors.
Traditionally, the award is presented in two categories:
Leading authors of the three most cited 3-year-old scientific articles.
The three editors, who have demonstrated the highest level of activity over 2025.
This year, our open-access journals participating in the awards are:
Found on Bluesky, X and Facebook, this journal is designated to accelerate data-rich publications and innovative formats that make biodiversity information easier to discover, reuse, and integrate.
The most impactful papers of 2022 for Biodiversity Data Journal are:
An updated checklist of Azorean arthropods (Arthropoda) (2022). Authored by Borges PAV, Lamelas-Lopez L, Andrade R, Lhoumeau S, Vieira V, Soares AO, Borges I, Boieiro M, Cardoso P, Crespo LCF, Karsholt O, Schülke M, Serrano ARM, Quartau JA, Assing V.
We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to our editorial team for their commitment throughout 2025. This year, we are proud to recognize the journal’s three most prolific contributors:
Open-access scientific journal that is internationally recognized as a leading outlet for describing new animal species and advancing modern, data-driven zoological taxonomy. Found on Bluesky, X and Facebook.
The most impactful papers of 2022 for ZooKeys are:
Catalogue of the Diptera (Insecta) of Morocco—an annotated checklist, with distributions and a bibliography(2022). By Kettani K, Ebejer MJ, Ackland DM, Bächli G, Barraclough D, Barták M, Carles-Tolrá M, Černý M, Cerretti P, Chandler P, Dakki M, Daugeron C, De Jong H, Dils J, Disney H, Droz B, Evenhuis N, Gatt P, Graciolli G, Grichanov IY, Haenni J-P, Hauser M, Himmi O, MacGowan I, Mathieu B, Mouna M, Munari L, Nartshuk EP, Negrobov OP, Oosterbroek P, Pape T, Pont AC, Popov GV, Rognes K, Skuhravá M, Skuhravý V, Speight M, Tomasovic G, Trari B, Tschorsnig H-P, Vala J-C, von Tschirnhaus M, Wagner R, Whitmore D, Woźnica AJ, Zatwarnicki T, Zwick P.
Benthic megafauna of the western Clarion-Clipperton Zone, Pacific Ocean (2022). Authored by Bribiesca-Contreras G, Dahlgren TG, Amon DJ, Cairns S, Drennan R, Durden JM, Eléaume MP, Hosie AM, Kremenetskaia A, McQuaid K, O’Hara TD, Rabone M, Simon-Lledó E, Smith CR, Watling L, Wiklund H, Glover AG.
We are also delighted to award the three editors who have completed the highest number of editorial tasks over the past year.
A key open-access journal for documenting fungal diversity worldwide and promoting modern mycological research and taxonomy. It can be found on Bluesky, X and Facebook.
PhytoKeys plays a central role in publishing research on global plant diversity and supporting cutting-edge research in plant systematics and evolution. Found on Bluesky, X and Facebook.
We would also like to acknowledge the dedication of our editors in 2025. The three most active editors receiving this year’s recognition are:
Lorenzo Peruzzi
Blanca León
Alexander Sennikov
On behalf of the journals’ publisher, Pensoft, we wish to thank ALL authors, editors, reviewers and readers for their continued support and engagement.
We once again invite our readers to celebrate these contributions and to engage with the featured articles and editor profiles, recognizing the collective effort that supports high-quality, open-access scholarly publishing.
Found on Bluesky and Facebook, this is journal with a vast scope covering all aspects of nature conservation and integrating research on the ecological, evolutionary, economic, and social dimensions of conservation management.
The most impactful papers of 2022 for Nature Conservation are:
Published in the journal Subterranean Biology, the paper has become by far the most popular research article ever published across Pensoft’s scientific journal portfolio in terms of both news media coverage and overall online attention.
Issue 53 (2025) of Subterranean Biology, where the spider megacolony paper was published.
Thanks to an integration with our partners at Altmetric, we have quantifiable metrics that measure just how exceptional the attention to this article is. The paper’s Altmetric Attention Score of 2254 places it in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric globally. For less than a month, it became more popular than nearly 27,000 research papers published by Pensoft and tracked by Altmetric.
The study was covered globally by major news outlets, reaching audiences far beyond niche scientific circles. The article garnered over 2,200 online mentions linking directly to the publication, with Altmetric tracking attention from 290 news outlets specifically. The story was featured by numerous top global news organizations, including The New York Times, BBC, The Washington Post, The Independent, Die Welt and NBC News,as well as popular science publications such as Smithsonian Magazine and Science Alert.
Beyond traditional media, the study gained significant traction on various social platforms, including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, alongside mentions on Bluesky and X.
The paper details fascinating discovery from the Sulfur Cave, which sits on the border between Albania and Greece. There, the research team documented an extraordinary spider community centered around a massive communal web spanning more than 100 square meters. This giant structure, dense enough to resemble a living curtain, is home to an estimated total of over 110,000 spiders, comprised of approximately 69,000 Tegenaria domestica and 42,000 Prinerigone vagans individuals.
A video of the spider colony in Sulfur cave. Courtesy Blerina Vrenozi
Crucially, this study marks the first documented instance of colonial behavior in both of these spider species, and the first recorded case of colonial web-building in a chemoautotrophic cave environment.
This unusual coexistence, where the larger, normally predatory T. domestica does not eat the smaller P. vagans, is believed to be facilitated by the cave’s total darkness and, most importantly, the overwhelming abundance of food resources. The ecosystem is sustained entirely without sunlight through chemoautotrophy, where sulfur-oxidizing bacteria form biofilms that support invertebrates that serve as the spiders’ primary, highly dense food source. This specialized, isolated environment has also driven the evolutionary adaptation of the spiders, which are genetically distinct from their surface relatives, illustrating the remarkable genetic plasticity that emerges under extreme environmental conditions.
We are proud that our journal Subterranean Biology is the platform for publishing such globally compelling research. This record success only confirms the widespread interest in high-quality, specialized scientific discoveries.
We continue our dedication to effective, high-reach science communication and look forward to sharing other compelling research with both scientists and the wider public.
Molecular analyses of soil and water commonly reveal large proportions of fungal taxa that cannot be assigned to any taxonomic or functional groups. Some of these so-called ‘dark taxa’ have been encoded alphanumerically, while others have remained completely overlooked.
Recent advances in long-read sequencing techniques have produced large amounts of high-quality rRNA marker gene data about eukaryotic organisms, but many of these taxa have remained unknown at the highest taxonomic levels: phylum and kingdom.
Now, via a thorough analysis of the EUKARYOME long-read database, an international team led by Prof Leho Tedersoo (University of Tartu, Estonia) has discovered that a large proportion of the unknown eukaryotes belong to deep, hitherto undescribed fungal lineages.
By developing innovative approaches in taxonomy and performing rigorous phylogenetic analyses, the researchers described 30 novel fungal lineages from the order to phylum levels, including the type species of these groups. They published their findings in the open-access journal MycoKeys.
Names of new taxa were developed and voted for by all co-authors, with the names referring to type locality using the native language stems (Amerindian, Sámi, Estonian) prevailing.
The authors also proposed the taxonomic terms “nucleotype” and “legitype” to refer to holotype-derived DNA samples and DNA sequences, respectively, which under certain circumstances (e.g., when holotype is lost) could also be used as types.
The taxonomic approach developed by Tedersoo et al. provides a means of describing and communicating unseen, potentially uncultivable microeukaryotic taxa.
Original source
Tedersoo L, Hosseyni Moghadam MS, Panksep K, Prins V, Anslan S, Mikryukov V, Bahram M, Abarenkov K, Kõljalg U, Esmaeilzadeh-Salestani K, Pawłowska J, Wurzbacher C, Ding Y, Alkahtani SH, Nilsson RH (2025) Thirty novel fungal lineages: formal description based on environmental samples and DNA. MycoKeys 124: 1-121. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.124.161674
A new white paper delivers a clear message: protecting biodiversity is not just an environmental issue. It is essential for food security, public health, climate stability, and the global economy.
The authors make a call for a decisive shift: from fragmented initiatives to a holistic, global approach to biodiversity research and policy, already demonstrated during a workshop at the 79th United Nations General Assembly and the Science Summit (UNGA79). A key part of this transformation concerns the role of research infrastructures in connecting science, technology, and policy: from vast biodiversity collections and genomic observatories, to ecosystem “digital twins” powered by supercomputers.
Behind the paper are a network of legal entities based in Europe and holding global interests, which includes biodiversity, ecology, and engineering communities, coordinated by the LifeWatch European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC).
With their combined expertise and through European initiatives, such as Research Infrastructures, e-Infrastructures, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), the Digital Twin projects and academic publishers, these communities provide a basis for collaboration in strategically contributing to the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (K-M GBF) targets.
Biodiversity needs to be placed at the centre of the upcoming 2026 UN Summit of the Future and become a core pillar of the agenda after the 2030 deadline for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
The UN Pact for the Future should include biodiversity as a core pillar: “not only of environmental sustainability, but of equity, security, and intergenerational justice”.
urges the team.
To do this, the authors propose the establishment of a global alliance that will strategically integrate biodiversity conservation into the core priorities of the UN Summit of the Future and the post-SDG agenda.
This alliance is meant to join the voices of researchers, policymakers, indigenous knowledge holders, civil society, and industry to ensure that biodiversity underpins peace, prosperity, and justice as a universal enabler.
The white paper also demonstrates how the research infrastructures collectively contribute to the seven Strategic Considerations of the K-M GBF, outlined here in brief and further detailed in the full publication:
Contribution and rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities: Ensuring fair recognition and sharing of benefits with indigenous peoples and local communities, thus integrating their knowledge into biodiversity science.
Collective efforts towards the targets of the K-M GBF: Coordinating biodiversity monitoring, databases, and digital infrastructures to track progress towards global conservation targets.
Fulfilment of the three principal objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its protocols: Studying or supporting the study of all aspects of biodiversity; and providing public and streamlined access to biodiversity information.
Implementation through science, technology, and innovation: Developing and offering technologically advanced and novel solutions for research, data sharing and management to various users; and promoting open science by publishing research findings and increasingly sharing more facets of the research process.
Ecosystem approach: Developing and implementing technologies that enable a cross-domain, multidisciplinary approach to studying biodiversity and ecosystems; and using holistic, cross-disciplinary methods to understand and predict biodiversity and environmental dynamics.
Cooperation synergies: Collaborating with organisations responsible for implementing the CBD, policy agents, international research projects; and participating in international forums and social, scientific and technical initiatives.
Biodiversity and health linkages: Demonstrating how healthy ecosystems support human health, food security, and resilience to pandemics by supporting interdisciplinary research through bringing together knowledge and data and uncovering links and interactions between humans and the environment.
“With the UN’s ‘Pact for the Future’ currently being shaped, we see a unique opportunity to anchor biodiversity as a unifying thread across global goals that will transform how societies respond to the intertwined crises of climate change, nature loss, and pollution,” say the authors.
The white paper is the latest contribution to the LifeWatch ERIC Strategic Working Plan Outcomes open-science collection meant to provide a one-stop access point to the most important deliverables by the European biodiversity and ecosystem research infrastructure, which is currently undergoing a significant upgrade as a response to the needs of its target communities and stakeholders.
***
Original source:
Arvanitidis C, Barov B, Gonzalez Ferreiro M, Zuquim G, Kirrane D, Huertas Olivares C, Drago F, Pade N, Basset A, Deneudt K, Koureas D, Manola N, Mietchen D, Casino A, Penev L, Ioannidis Y (2025) From Knowledge to Solutions: Science, Technology and Innovation in Support of the UN SDGs. Research Ideas and Outcomes 11: e168765. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.11.e168765
This publication is part of a collection:
LifeWatch ERIC Strategic Working Plan Outcomes Edited by Christos Arvanitidis, Cristina Huertas, Alberto Basset, Peter van Tienderen, Cristina Di Muri, Vasilis Gerovasileiou, Ana Mellado
Europe’s biodiversity and ecosystem research infrastructure. LifeWatch ERIC provides access to biodiversity and ecosystem data, services and other research products: its virtual workbenches and digital twins for biodiversity science enable researchers worldwide to analyse biodiversity patterns, processes, and changes in ecosystems, and derive evidence-based knowledge for science and policy.
CSC hosts one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers (LUMI), pioneering biodiversity digital twins and climate models. CSC provides critical support for data-intensive projects that link computing, AI, and environmental science.
A federation of hundreds of data centres providing global-scale computing, AI, and data services. EGI enables large-scale analysis of biodiversity and environmental data from sensors and satellites, supporting international collaboration.
A hub for marine research, coordinating Europe’s Digital Twin of the Ocean and global biodiversity data systems, such as WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species). VLIZ drives blue innovation and ocean data integration.
Europe’s infrastructure for marine biology, offering access to organisms, labs, and genomic observatories. EMBRC connects over 70 institutes across 10 countries, supporting research “from genes to ecosystems.”
The largest initiative to digitise and unify Europe’s natural science collections into a single, FAIR-data-based infrastructure. DiSSCo makes museum collections globally accessible, boosting taxonomic, ecological, and environmental research.
A European e-Infrastructure dedicated to building a globally connected, interoperable, and sustainable open research ecosystem, with Open Science at its core. By offering a suite of services covering the entire research lifecycle, guidelines, and practices that support the adoption of Open Access and FAIR data principles across its network of National Open Access Desks in 34 countries, OpenAIRE supports local researchers, funders, and policymakers in aligning with European and global open science policies.
Founded in 1992 “by scientists, for scientists”, the academic open-access publishing company is well known worldwide for its novel cutting-edge publishing tools, workflows and methods for text and data publishing of journals, books and conference materials. Through its Research and Technical Development department, the company is involved in various research and technology projects. Pensoft coordinated the EU project BiCIKL (2021-2024), which established a new community of Research Infrastructures and users of FAIR and interlinked biodiversity data.
The world’s largest computing society, established to foster ethical and responsible innovation. ACM brings global expertise in computing and AI to biodiversity research and policy.
A leading ICT and AI research institute advancing digital infrastructures and open science platforms. Athena connects computing innovation with biodiversity, humanities, and societal challenges.
In October 2025, four major institutions in the biodiversity research landscape: TDWG, GBIF, OBIS and GEO BON, will come together as the organisers of the Living Data 2025 conference.
The event is set to be among one of the most crucial international gatherings of the year for experts and stakeholders in the field of biodiversity data. Set to take place in the Colombian capital of Bogotá between 21st and 24th, Living Data 2025 will centre around four core themes:
Open data
Data integration
Biodiversity data application
Community engagement and capacity-building
As an academic publisher with experience and commitment to all these thematic areas, Pensoft will participate in the event in the capacity of an exhibitor and an award sponsor, as well as a symposium host.
The conference delegates will have the chance to learn more about the publisher, its exclusively open-access scholarly portfolio and participation at various international scientific projects when they visit the company’s branded stand.
During the event, the scientific publisher and technology provider will also present the Pensoft Award for the Best Student Oral Presentation, which grants the winner a free publication in an open-access, peer-reviewed journal from our portfolio.
Crucially, Pensoft’s involvement in the Living Data 2025 programme also includes a dedicated four-hour session titled “Long Live Biodiversity Data: Knowledge Transfer and Continuity across Research Projects”.
The symposium will be jointly co-organised by Pensoft, LifeWatch ERIC and the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre. As the title suggests, the session will focus on the longevity of scientific outputs as they are generated, shared and re-used across disciplines, organisations and initiatives. In this context, tools, information hubs and workflows enabling exchanges that truly consolidate the global biodiversity data space over time will be showcased.
In a broader sense, the session will also seek to demonstrate how targeted communication can help transform science results into actionable knowledge by raising awareness among agenda-setters. This will speak to the potential of a multi-level approach to information sharing to bridge the gap between science and policy in relation to increasingly ambitious global environmental objectives.
Multiple projects affiliated with Pensoft will be represented in these deliberations, in order to share a diverse array of relevant insights:
22 October (Wednesday): 10:45 AM – 12:45 PM (UTC/GMT-5)
23 October (Thursday): 10:45 AM to 12:45 PM (UTC/GMT-5)
You can find out more about Living Data, including the details on registering for an in-person or virtual attendance, on the conference’s website. Our session is listed on this page under ID number 6788879.
As an additional note, the organisers of the conference have launched a call for extended abstracts for all speakers at Living Data 2025 that will remain open until 1st October 2025. The participants who opt to publish their conference abstracts in the Biodiversity Information Science and Standards (BISS) journal will enjoy permanent and far-reaching accessibility and discoverability for their conference contributions.
The TDWG network, who launched BISS as their official scholarly outlet in 2017 in collaboration with long-time partner Pensoft, have posted a list of the advantages for submitting an extended abstract, even though they have already had their abstracts accepted by the Living Data 2025 organisers. Amongst the reaslons are many perks typically associated with a conventional research article, such as DOI registration, indexation at dozens of scientific databases, embedded media, tables and supplementary materials, and usage metrics.
