Charting New Paths: The Promise of Alternative Publishing Practices

How does innovation arise in scientific publishing? Under what conditions can alternative publishing practices become established as the new standard? And what options for action are available to research institutions, funding organizations, or operators of publishing platforms? Answers to these and similar questions are provided in the final report of the Alternative Publishing Platforms project, Charting New Paths: The Promise of Alternative Publishing Practices.

The study, commissioned by Knowledge Exchange and carried out by Research Consulting with the support of an international group of experts, identified six distinct alternative publishing practices: preprint posting, open peer review, preregistration, versioning, review and curation after publication, and modular publications, that address specific limitations in conventional publishing workflows, offer benefits around research integrity through transparency; increased speed and efficiency; and shifts power dynamics towards greater equity and access.

The barriers to adoption of these alternative publishing practices are deeply embedded in how scholarly communication operates and researchers face hard choices between experimentation and career advancement.

This work identifies the critical enablers for the successful adoption: critical collective action and coordination, reform of research assessment, investment in infrastructure and capacity and representation in digital infrastructure. It emphasizes opportunities for action across five key stakeholders: Research funders, Research institutions, Conventional publishing platforms, Alternative publishing platforms and Infrastructure providers.