Investing in a brighter future | Research Information

The new non-profit Knowledge Futures Group offers institutions a valuable scholarly communications resource, writes Heather Staines

Recently, interest in utilising open source software tools to create and disseminate scholarly content has grown. Continuing consolidation in the publishing technology space has fuelled this trend with increasing concern about potential ‘lock in’ for libraries and publishers and ‘lock out’ for societies and independent content creators. (See Roger Schonfeld, Open Source for Scholarly Publishing: An Inventory and an Analysis, The Scholarly Kitchen, August 8, 2018. A shift to open source technology, with code published openly and a permissive reuse license, enables publishers to ensure ongoing availability and control of content. However, an impression that such technology requires significant human and technical resources remains. Fortunately, ongoing education is correcting this impression. (See Adam Hyde, Open Source and Scholarly Publishing, The Scholarly Kitchen, September 6, 2018.