Exploring networks of scholar-led publishing initiatives with a social network analysis of the Radical Open Access Collective

Abstract

What role do networks, sociospatial strategies and open infrastructures play during the digital transformation of the scholarly publishing system? In a highly contested field where the die seems already cast of how to publish and read, many scholars band together in a common struggle against an enclosure and co-optation of knowledge infrastructures and disrupt solid power geometries. As one of these recently created coalitions, the so-called Radical Open Access Collective (ROAC) tries to build horizontal alliances internationally and strengthen vertical collaborations on smaller scales.

This poster depicts networks on three levels and its strategic relevance for stakeholders being involved in Open Access publishing. The aim of the study is to explore networks of scholar-led publishing initiatives and facilitate an extended understanding of sociospatial theory from a Lefebvrian perspective with reference to the scholarly publishing system in transition.

As a case study, the ROAC with more than 70 members of publishing initatives is explored in a mixed methods research design. The focus of the qualitatively-driven mixed methods research and social network analysis is the Collective’s sociospatial strategies e.g. networking, strengthening vertical collaborations and promoting horizontal alliances. A systematic literature research and qualitative interviews with experts in the field of scholar-led publishing provide the main data set, being triangulated with desk-based research on the Radical Open Access Collective.

The results show networking strategies of the ROAC on three different levels building on a social network analysis. In addition, this poster contributes to a deeper understanding of a specific network of scholar-led publishing initiatives indicating their key sociospatial strategies in order to tackle challenges in a contentious struggle between scalability and nonscalability.

Concluding, this poster emphasises the importance of sociospatial strategies for non-profit publishing initiatives in order to create a knowledge commons around open and equitable infrastructures.