Expanding Perspectives on Open Science: Communities, Cultures and Diversity in Concepts and Practices

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Scope

The International Conference on Electronic Publishing (ELPUB) reaches its 21st anniversary! ELPUB 2017 continues the tradition, and brings together scholars, publishers, lecturers, librarians, developers, entrepreneurs, users and all other stakeholders interested in issues regarding electronic publishing in widely differing contexts. ELPUB 2017 has a fresh look on the current ecosystem of scholarly publishing including the positioning of stakeholders and distribution of economic, technological and discursive power. ELPUB also opens the floor for emerging alternatives in how scholars and citizens interact with scholarly content and what role dissemination and publishing plays in these interactions. Questions to be raised include: What is the core of publishing today? How does agenda setting in emerging frameworks like Open Science function and what is the nature of power of the referring scholarly discourses? How does this relate to the European and world-wide Open Science and Open Innovation agenda of funders and institutions, and how does this look like in publishing practice? The conference investigates the position and power of players and agents, – e.g. scholars and their networks, legacy and academia-owned publishers, research institutions and e-infrastructures – as well as their respective agendas. When looking at these interlinked topics, we aim to sharpen the view for current challenges and ways forward to reshape the publishing system.

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Call for Papers

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The conference this year will focus on the diverse perspectives about Open Science, one of the most widely discussed topics in research communications today. Despite the common claims that Open Science improves transparency and accountability throughout the research life cycle while democratizing the knowledge production process, empirical research and conceptual validation of these ideas has been limited. In addition, there is a growing tendency to conceptualise Open Science as a set of conditions waiting to be met, without regard for regional differences, including cultural and historical contexts of knowledge production. We, therefore, invite researchers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds to share their results and ideas at what we hope will be a highly interactive forum.

Elpub is also exploring alternative models of interaction and co-creation between scholars and citizen scientists and the role of dissemination and publishing within these interactions. As such, the conference is open to a broad range of questions, including:

– Who determines the agenda and direction of emerging discourses around Open Science?
– How does Open Science challenge the current positions and power of players and agents, – in developing and developed countries, with scholars and their networks, commercial and academia-based publishers, research institutions and e-infrastructures – as well as their respective agendas?
– Are we seeing a converging global view of Open Science, or are there disciplinary, regional, and other differences that are important to consider?
– What are the gaps between existing Open Science policies, regulatory frameworks, and implementation requirements and how should they be addressed?
– How do Open Science agendas relate to the Open Innovation agendas of governments, funders and institutions? What is the impact of these agendas on research funding and dissemination practices?

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