News

We are commissioning a study to discover how alternative publishing platforms (APP) functionalities can support innovation in scholarly communication and gain deeper insights about the maturity and development of alternative platforms. 

We invite consultants to submit proposals for the design, methodology and completion of this study before 20/09/2024.

An overview of the Description of Requirements is included below, however full details of the Call are available via the Jisc e-tendering portal. Registration to the Portal is free and is required to access the selection criteria, to request clarifications and to submit a proposal.

Description of Requirements

As part of its work on Open Science, the Knowledge Exchange (KE) is exploring how to raise awareness of alternative publishing platforms (APP) among the research community and research supporting institutions. We are commissioning a study to discover how APP functionalities can support innovation in scholarly communication and gain deeper insights about the maturity and development of alternative platforms.

Proposals and outputs will be in English, and we expect that interviews will be in English.

Objectives

1. Promote Innovative Publishing Approaches:

• Focus on emerging publishing methods alongside established open access practices.
• Raise awareness about these approaches within the research community and supporting institutions.

2. Support Scholarly Communication Innovation:

• Explore functionalities provided by alternative publishing platforms (APPs) to enhance scholarly communication.
• Identify means to foster innovation in this space.

3. Sustainability and Opportunities:

• Seek political and financial backing to strengthen the sustainability of alternative platforms.
• Gain insights into the maturity and development of these platforms

4. Guidance and Reccommendations:

• Provide guidance to publishing platforms, research organizations, and funders regarding the current landscape of alternative publishing.
• Formulate recommendations for stakeholders on effectively navigating alternative publishing approaches, contributing to scientific knowledge advancement.

Full details of the scoping for the next phase of work are included in the paper ‘Scoping the second phase of the Alternative publishing platforms work'. We are inviting consultants to submit proposals for the design, methodology and completion of this study based on the scoping document and to include an overview of project plan and activities that will be undertaken to deliver the proposal.

Background

Analysis Report on Alternative Publishing Platforms

KE has a history of promoting open access and supporting the growth of a sustainable open access landscape.

This activity will build on results from previous Knowledge Exchange exploration of this topic, that explored the landscape formed by the alternative publishing platforms, in the "Analysis Report on Alternative Publishing Platforms" published in September 2023 (https://doi.org/10.21428/996e2e37.0eafc1a8). This work was based on a KE taxonomy of Alternative Publishing Platforms.

Results indicated that there is a range of innovative platforms; from an open call we received 45 entries by platforms. These platforms were mainly 1) funder platforms, 2) stakeholder governed platforms and 3) experimental publishing platforms. Most platforms within this survey were replacing the function of existing publishers in publishing research articles, books and conference proceedings, although many were attempting to broaden what was acceptable for publication. However, in terms of innovative functionalities, for example offering to publish non-traditional outputs as well as purely open peer reviewing only fewer platforms, fewer than 10 were identified.

Wider landscape

There have been numerous attempts recently to explore the emerging Diamond Open Access landscape in Europe and worldwide (e.g. Diamond OA Journals Study, Science Europe u.a., 2021). The APP study goes beyond Diamond OA by considering additional dimensions of alternative publishing (review procedures, publication chronology etc.) and merging those into a single framework.

The Ithaka project on the "Second Digital Transformation of Scholarly Publishing" aims to provide recommendations for stakeholders in the area of scholarly publishing as well but comes with a slightly different focus (infrastructure providers, shared infrastructure).

CoalitionS's paper on "responsible publishing" does include concrete recommendations for funders and research institutions but with limited detail and distinction of audience types.

Knowledge Exchange Strategy

This work fits into KE's overall strategy on Innovation in scholarly communication and publication models of the future and the KE Open Scholarship Framework. It can inform KE partner organisations' work, possible strategy and investment and steer national developments, as all KE partner organisations operate as national organisations as detailed below:

1. Political interest in "alternative" forms of publishing has increased noticeably over recent years (e. g. cOAlitionS, "Responsible publishing"; European Council's conclusions on high-quality, transparent, open, trustworthy and equitable scholarly publishing), in large part due to shortcomings of article processing charge (APC) based models. Potential stakeholders (research performing and supporting institutions, funders etc.) require guidance on how to approach this emerging and sometimes confusing landscape of alternative forms of publishing. KE's APP activity aims to provide this much needed support.
2. The activity aligns with and follows up on the work undertaken by KE's OA expert group on hybrid / transformative agreements (paper to be published this year). The APP study supplements the paper's critical stance on the new hybrid orthodoxy in scholarly publishing by undertaking a thorough investigation of alternative and innovative approaches.
3. The APP study suits KE partner interests and has the potential to positively impact KE partner organizations (JISC: insights to inform develop of their own alternative platforms like Octopus; Denmark/Finland/Netherlands: enhance established OJS platforms).

Expected outputs/deliverables

• Desk research consisting of data collection, analysis, interpretation, etc.) and including approx. 35-40 interviews with defined groups including:
  • 8-10 "really alternative" platforms identified in the Analysis Report on Alternative Publishing Platforms
  • 6-10 (national) funding organisations,
  • 15-20 researchers from across the six KE Countries, including different disciplines, career stage etc

• Provide updates and early analysis of results for input and validation from the APP activity leads (approx. every 3 weeks) and Task & Finish group (approx. every 4-6 weeks), including a kick-off meeting, review meetings as well as at the completion of a phase and start of next phase.

• Formulate recommendations from data analysis and interpretation for main stakeholders.

• Propose formats of final outputs, provide input and feedback to support production and publication.

• Contribute to dissemination and presentation of the final report including:
  • Production of slide deck to communicate findings to an external audience.
  • Present the findings to an external audience at up to two webinars/conferences.

End users / stakeholders involved

Three main stakeholder groups:

• Publishing platforms (publishers or publishing platforms who would like to move from traditional forms of publishing to more progressive and innovative ways, prioritising the handful of "really alternative platforms" as identified in the APP report)
• Research performing (universities, institutes, learned societies etc.) and research supporting institutions (libraries, IT centres etc.)
• Research funding organizations within the 6 KE countries (prioritized)

As well as:

• The six Knowledge Exchange Partner organisations; CSC, Finland, CNRS, France, DeiC, Denmark, DFG, Germany, Jisc, UK and SURF, the Netherlands.

Indicative timetable

We expect this work will take around 45 days over an 18 month period.

• Final date for clarifications: 10/09/2024
• Closing date for Proposals: 20/09/2024
• Work to commence: 01/12/2024
• Publication of final results: January 2026
• Dissemination and promotion of final results: (Until June 2026)