The Second Digital Transformation of Scholarly Publishing: Strategic Context and Shared Infrastructure

Authors

Tracy Bergstrom, Ithaka S+R
Oya Y. Rieger, Ithaka S+R
Roger C. Schonfeld, Ithaka S+R

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

1-29-2024

Citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18665/sr.320210

Comments

Copyright 2024 ITHAKA. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Today, the scholarly publishing sector is undergoing its second digital transformation. The first digital transformation saw a massive shift from paper to digital, but otherwise publishing retained many of the structures, workflows, incentives, and outputs that characterized the print era. A variety of shared infrastructure was developed to serve the needs of this first digital transformation. In this current second digital transformation, many of the structures, workflows, incentives, and outputs that characterized the print era are being revamped in favor of new approaches that bring tremendous opportunities, and also non-trivial risks, to scholarly communication. The second digital transformation requires shared infrastructure that is fit for purpose. It is our objective with this paper to examine the needs for shared infrastructure that will support this second digital transformation.