SciPost
Next stage development of
its publishing infrastructure
17 February 2022
Jean-Sébastien Caux
Institute of Physics
University of Amsterdam
Plan of the talk
What is it? |
A complete publishing portal
(from preprint to metadata curation)
|
Who runs it? |
Professional scientists
(is and will remain grassroots)
|
What does it offer? |
|
Summary? |
|
What does it aim to achieve?
A complete reform of publishing at all levels
-
Implement Genuine Open Access
two-way: free for readers, free for authors -
Implement a healthier business model
- strict editorial/financial decoupling
- no profit-making on the back of scientists
- consortial model; not based on APCs
-
Modernize the refereeing procedure
- open; more credit to referees
- streamline post-publication feedback
- Reform impact assessment
Journals
|
1100 publications
|
Best practice examples
- Peer-witnessed refereeing
- Cost-slashing consortial business model
- Community-driven
- Open infrastructure
Editorial workflow
SciPost's business model
Diamond
(though I prefer metals)- no APCs, no subscriptions [Platinum]
- fully not-for-profit operations [Palladium]
- costs: about €600 per publication
A fraction of the current norm! - consortial model: donations
(inspirations: arXiv, ...)
Community-driven
Latest Virtual General Meeting (2022)
SciPost's infrastructure
Based exclusively on Free Software
Tech stack:
All our systems are built from scratch.
We leverage and contribute to FOSS.
- Django [Python web framework]
- Postgresql [database engine]
Vue.jsHTMX [frontend tech]- Bootstrap [frontend styling]
- MathJax [LaTeX javascript engine]
- GitLab [hub @ git.scipost.org]
- ... lots more, see git.scipost.org
Communications
Browsable API
Software repo hosting
@ git.scipost.org
Documentation
@ docs.scipost.org
Community discussions
@ disc.scipost.org
Project SciPostPI
(🙏 NWO)
- improve navigation and UX
- enable broader user base
- improve and automate workflows
- improve comms facilities
- improve links with external services
- expand API services
- improve search
Job opening
Know anybody? Get in touch!
Quick demo of current developments
Final thought
Open Access Publishing is like Linux
Parallels are evident:
- It's the better OS, but "less easy" to use
- It's competing against huge corporations...
- ... who are experts at customer "lock-in"
- It's a fragmented community
- It's only adopted by a minority, despite the compelling technological, privacy, flexibility, customizability, and... cost advantages
The SciPost Team
| J-S Caux | Founder; developer |
| Joost van Mameren | Secretary |
| Jasper van Wezel | Treasurer |
| Paula Perez | Admin (editorial) |
| Sergio E. Tapias Arze | Admin (editorial) |
| Jan Willem Wijnen | Sponsors |
| Thijs de Goede | Assistant (editorial) |
| Ana Silva | Assistant (editorial) |
| George Katsikas | Production |