Knowledge or Credit?The (Un)Changing Face of Academic Publishing from the Philosophical Transactions to Blogging

Cornelius PuschmannSchool of Library and Information Science

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Social Science and Digital Research: Interdisciplinary Insights

March 12th 2012, Oxford Internet Institute

1. Context of this talk

2. A glimpse at the past and present of formal scholarly communication

3. The scholarly blog: Jack of all trades, master of none?

4. (Policy) implications

This Talk

Context

In the broader context of the Internet‘s impact on scholarship, a number of initiatives have adressed scholarly blogs and their potential role for academic communication: • Oxford e-Social Science Project (OeSS, 2005-2012)• MeRC project “Use and Relevance of Web 2.0 Resources for Researchers“ (2008-2009)• Research Consortium “Interactive Science“ (2009-2012, Gießen)• Junior Researchers Group “Science and the Internet“ (2010-2012, Düsseldorf)• my postdoc project (DFG grant): “Networking, visibility, information: a study of digital genres of scholarly communication and the motives of their users“ (2012-2015, Berlin)

• Philosophical Transactions established in 1665 by Henry Oldenburg• consisted of a range of subject areas and genres of text • enabled wide(r) dissemination of knowledge based on discovery than had previously existed• allowed inventors to claim the right to an invention• dual function:• spread knowledge • enable attribution

The Past

spreading knowledge building a reputation

dual aims of scholarly communication

socie

talindividual

massive increase in speed and volume of output:• ~50 mio. scholarly publications in existence

a heavily concentrated market:• Reed Elsevier, Springer Science+Business Media and John Wiley & Sons account for large portion of articles published globally

extreme imbalances:• key inputs (research articles and peer review) are provided free of charge• output it sold to intermediaries (libraries), not to end-consumers• profit margins of up to 40%

changing environments:• digital publishing • open access

The Present

What happened in between?

• institutionalization and professionalization of academia• corporate intermediaries have taken over publishing• career success based on publications (“publish or perish“)• computers and the Internet (duh) • diversification of scholarly genres:• formal (monographs, peer-reviewed articles)• informal (gray literature, interpersonal communication)

How do scholarly blogs fit in here?

scholarly blogscienc

e blog

research blog

digital lab notebookacademic b

log

carnet de recherecheWissenschaftsblog

different terms & concepts

Communicator Target audience Communicative goals

PhD student in English literature

peers*, self write, remember

postdoctoral researcher in information science

peers*keep in touch,

network,

science enthusiast* experts, lay audience express opinions, educate

free-lance journalist lay audience, advertisers gain visibility

Some flavors of scholarly blogs

Type 1:The Logbook

Type 1:The Logbook

Type 2:The Notepad

Type 2:The Notepad

Type 3:The Printing Press

Type 3:The Printing Press

• scholarly blogs represent a return to a more diverse and less utalitarian genre ecology of academic communication• they cover a range of functions, including notekeeping, academic publishing and science education• their flexibility also makes them hard to evaluate from the perspective of established publishing• it appears unlikely that they will supplant formal genres of scholarly communication in the near future, but like the first academic journals, they are a response to widely-felt needs• should funders incentivize scholarly blogging -- and if yes, what kind?

Observations

Thank you for your attention!