This paper's main objective is to present and discuss some results of a research project in progress on issues currently in debate on open scholarly journals dedicated to the publication of research outputs on an open, democratic and transparent basis. It contemplates a brief review of the literature about challenges regarding openness of the current scholarly publication system and political-economic constraints to its democratization, to support the analysis of two case studies on open publication platforms – Research Ideas and Outcomes and Wellcome Open Research – based on information available on their websites. As results, we present an analysis of publication practices and policies in action on these platforms and their policies.