COST Open Call attracts record submissions

30/10/2025

Open Call oc-2025-1 initial analysis

Last week we closed our Open Call (oc-2025-1) for new COST Action proposals. Interim analysis shows:

  • Highest number of proposals ever submitted to a COST Open Call: a 29% increase when compare to oc-2024-1.
  • Over 50,000 main and secondary proposers involved.
  • All COST Member Countries submitted to this collection as a main proposer. Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands have the highest number of main proposers.
  • Continual, strong gender balance.
  • Very interdisciplinary with 55% of proposals having two or more main fields of science.

Next steps

The proposals will now undergo evaluation and up to 70 COST Actions will be approved in May 2026.

10 things to know about evaluation at COST 1. Proposals are evaluated and selected on a competitive basis, taking into account the available funds for an Open Call. 2. Evaluation and selection follows 3 steps: i. Evaluation by Independent External Experts ii. Revision and quality check of the Evaluation Reports by Review Panels iii. Proposal selection by the COST Scientific Committee 3. Final approval of new COST Actions is made by the COST Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) 4. Time from submission to awarding is 7 months. Proposers should discover by May 2026 if they are successful. 5. Evaluation happens against COST’s eligibility (network of proposers, length, anonymity, language, ethical principles & peaceful purposes) and evaluation criteria (S&T excellence, networking, impact, implementation).
10 things to know about evaluation at COST 6. COST uses double-blind peer review. The identities of Independent External Experts, Review Panel members, and proposers are kept confidential. 7. Ad-hoc Review Panels are established after each Collection Date based on the number and topics of received proposals 8. COST strives to avoid any conflict of interest and all those involved in the process commit to confidentiality. 9. The Evaluation Report and results of the assessment are made available to each proposer via e-COST after CSO approval. 10. To ensure fairness and transparency COST has a Redress Procedure.

For those interested in applying for future network funding, news on our next Open Call will be announced soon.