Title
"As-You-Go" Instead of "After-the-Fact": A Network Approach to Scholarly Communication and Evaluation.
Abstract
Scholarly research faces threats to its sustainability on multiple domains (access, incentives, reproducibility, inclusivity). We argue that after-the-fact research papers do not help and actually cause some of these threats because the chronology of the research cycle is lost in a research paper. We propose to give up the academic paper and propose a digitally native as-you-go alternative. In this design, modules of research outputs are communicated along the way and are directly linked to each other to form a network of outputs that can facilitate research evaluation. This embeds chronology in the design of scholarly communication and facilitates the recognition of more diverse outputs that go beyond the paper (e.g., code, materials). Moreover, using network analysis to investigate the relations between linked outputs could help align evaluation tools with evaluation questions. We illustrate how such a modular as-you-go design of scholarly communication could be structured and how network indicators could be computed to assist in the evaluation process, with specific use cases for funders, universities, and individual researchers.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.3390/publications6020021
PUBLICATIONS
Keywords
Field
DocType
evaluation,network,communication,paper,metaresearch,decentralization,decentralisation,publishing
Decentralization,Use case,Incentive,Computer science,Knowledge management,Publishing,Network analysis,Modular design,Scholarly communication,Sustainability
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
6
2
2304-6775
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
1
0.40
7
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Chris Hartgerink110.40
Marino van Zelst210.73