ELSEVIER BV

Their core work

Elsevier is one of the world's largest academic publishers and research data analytics companies, headquartered in Amsterdam. In H2020 projects, they contribute publishing infrastructure, open access platforms, research data management tools, and dissemination expertise. Their involvement spans training networks in life sciences and open research infrastructure initiatives, where they provide access to scientific literature, data platforms like Scopus and ScienceDirect, and expertise in research communication. They serve as an industry bridge between academic research outputs and broader scientific dissemination.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Elsevier's early H2020 involvement (2015-2017) centered on open research infrastructure (THOR) and analytical chemistry training (MASSTRPLAN), reflecting a broad publishing-support role. From 2017 onward, their participation shifted toward biomedical and life sciences training networks — autophagy, radiomics, and antiviral immunometabolism — suggesting a deliberate move to embed publishing services within domain-specific research training. Their most recent project (MINDtheGEPs, 2021) marks a pivot toward institutional policy and gender equality, their first funded role with direct EC contribution.

Elsevier is moving from passive publishing support toward active participation in research training and institutional transformation projects, positioning itself as an industry partner in MSCA networks.

How they like to work

Elsevier never coordinates H2020 projects — they join as a participant or third party, providing publishing infrastructure and industry perspective to academic-led consortia. With 104 unique partners across 20 countries, they connect to a very broad network relative to their small project count, reflecting the large consortium sizes typical of MSCA training networks. Their role is consistently that of an enabling industry partner rather than a research driver, making them low-maintenance but high-value for dissemination.

Despite only 6 projects, Elsevier has worked with 104 partners across 20 countries, giving them an unusually wide European network. This breadth comes from large MSCA training networks rather than deep bilateral relationships.

What sets them apart

As a global publishing giant participating in EU research projects, Elsevier offers something few partners can: direct access to the world's largest scientific publishing and data infrastructure. For consortium builders, including Elsevier signals credibility in dissemination work packages and provides trainees with real industry exposure in academic publishing. Their willingness to join as a third party with minimal funding makes them an accessible partner for training-oriented proposals.

Highlights from their portfolio

• THOR
  Addressed the foundational infrastructure for open research — persistent identifiers, data sharing protocols — directly relevant to Elsevier's core business transformation toward open science.
• DRIVE
  A major MSCA training network on autophagy with translational ambitions (biomarkers, assays, in vivo models), showing Elsevier's role in bridging publishing with hands-on biomedical research training.
• MINDtheGEPs
  Elsevier's only project with direct EC funding (EUR 129,625), focused on gender equality plans — a departure from their typical publishing-adjacent roles.