Between 2012 and 2014, the need for coordinated actions in SSH digital practices and Open Access for books was recognized in various conferences such as ELPUB, JISC, and OAPEN. During this time, informal contacts and networking were instrumental in shaping the future project OPERAS. From 2015 to 2018, the focus shifted to the design phase. The OPERAS network was established, consisting of a Core Group representing 9 countries and 40 members. Projects like HIRMEOS EINFRA-2016-1 and OPERAS-D INFRASUPP-2016-1 were initiated to develop innovative services for books and design infrastructure, respectively. This period also saw the publication of design studies and white papers, culminating in the first OPERAS conference and an application to ESFRI, which recognized the project's high strategic potential in research. Preparation activities took place between 2019 and 2022. Projects like OPERAS-P (INFRADEV-2019-2) and TRIPLE (INFRAEOSC-2019-2) were launched to address design, business model, and governance issues, as well as to develop a discovery service as building blocks. In 2019, the OPERAS AISBL was established, focusing on service creation and alignment for the EOSC catalogue and transnational access. The implementation phase, spanning from 2023 to 2027, began with the OPERAS-PLUS project in 2021, aiming to ensure an efficient transition to operation with a comprehensive approach to technical, administrative, and financial matters. Projects like DIAMAS, CRAFT-OA, Skills4EOSC, and GraspOS were initiated in 2021 and 2022 to address various aspects of open scholarly communication and enhance collaboration on Open Science issues. Additionally, the adoption of the second OPERAS Strategic Plan (2023-2025) occurred in 2023, alongside the Palomera project focusing on monographs in open access. The ATRIUM project was launched beginning of 2024, collaborating with other SSH ERICs to tackle common services and issues in the perspective of the building of the SSH cluster of the EOSC. Finally, the OPERAS ERIC should be established in 2027. The Research Infrastructure OPERAS, dedicated to open scholarly communication, has profound impacts across various domains. Scientifically, it cultivates collaboration among researchers by facilitating the sharing of data, methodologies, and findings, thus fostering comprehensive studies and interdisciplinary research. Additionally, by promoting open access to research outputs, OPERAS enhances transparency in the scientific process, thereby bolstering the reliability and credibility of scientific knowledge. Moreover, by eliminating barriers to access and reuse of scholarly materials, OPERAS accelerates innovation, fostering the development of new theories, methods, and applications. Economically, OPERAS contributes to cost reduction by eliminating subscription fees, making research outputs freely available to all. This reduction in costs benefits academic institutions, libraries, and individual researchers. Furthermore, OPERAS facilitates knowledge transfer between academia, industry, and society at large. Additionally, by promoting collaboration and innovation, OPERAS creates new job opportunities in research, publishing, data management, and related fields. Societally, OPERAS ensures increased access to knowledge, democratising information and promoting informed decision-making and public engagement with science. Furthermore, by reducing disparities in access to information, OPERAS fosters inclusivity, diversity, and social equity in academia, providing equal opportunities for researchers from diverse backgrounds and geographic locations. Moreover, by fostering transparency and openness in research, OPERAS contributes to building public trust in science and academic institutions, enhancing the credibility and relevance of academic research in addressing societal challenges. Technically, OPERAS promotes standardisation and interoperability, facilitating the seamless exchange and integration of research outputs across different platforms and disciplines. Overall, OPERAS has transformative effects on scientific progress, economic development, societal engagement, and technological innovation.

OPERAS offers a comprehensive ecosystem of scholarly communication services that address the specific needs of the research community at local and European levels. They enable researchers to discover open scholarly resources, improve the quality of peer-review practices, engage in collaborative citizen science projects, and more. With the development of its services, OPERAS is building transnational access to scholarly communication resources available to researchers across the ERA and integrating them into the EOSC marketplace. GoTriple (https://gotriple.eu/) enables users to discover and reuse open scholarly resources in multiple languages. It also allows users to connect with other authors and researchers in the SSH and provides innovative tools. Metrics (https://metrics.operas-eu.org/) collects usage and impact metrics from various sources related to published Open Access books, which can be accessed, displayed, and analysed from a single access point. VERA (https://vera.operas-eu.org) allows researchers to collaborate on citizen science projects and provides support throughout the entire project process. Pathfinder, still in development, aims to enhance the visibility of editorial services and connect editors and editorial managers with services and service providers. PRISM (https://www.doabooks.org/en/librarians/prism) aims to improve transparency and trust in Open Access book publishing by providing standardised information about the peer-review process. Hypothèses (https://hypotheses.org/) provides a space for SSH blogs, fostering innovative formats of scholarly communication and offering multilingual content. FitSM (https://www.fitsm.eu/) is a training and certification program in lightweight service management mainly for OPERAS members. Finally, the OPERAS ID (https://id.operas-eu.org/), which provides a single solution for user registration across all services and offers federated identity as well as collaborative messaging via Mattermost.