An editorial process repository
The objective of the project is to define a framework of editorial models adopted by scholarly publications. This framework is presented as a form designed to help editorial committees define or expand their practices in the form of a shared declaration. It could also be implemented as a web-based editorial management service that can integrate with other digital tools for document editing, review, or web publishing.
Issues
Scholarly publications adopt a wide variety of editorial practices, both in their organization and in the way they evaluate articles or interact with authors. These practices reflect a broad range of editorial contexts, discipline-specific methods, and differing perspectives on the organization of scientific debate and peer review. Thus, no single model fundamentally defines the quality of a publication. On the contrary, we believe that the diversity of editorial processes adopted by journals deserves recognition and can be an asset.
In recent years, some Anglo-Saxon publishers have introduced peer review standards that certify a publication’s adherence to certain editorial best practices. Using these standards can lead to certification that assures funders of a publication’s quality. However, these models tend to be normative and restrictive, lack formalization, are often monolingual, and are generally unsuited to French or European contexts.
Explicitly declaring the editorial model adopted by a scholarly community can enhance the recognition of certain editorial practices and ensure greater transparency regarding them. Formalizing editorial models provides an opportunity not only to understand them better from a theoretical perspective but also to implement them in various digital tools that benefit the research ecosystem.
Technical challenges
To support journals both in choosing an editorial model and in valuing the work accomplished, we propose developing a modular system that allows for the formalization of the selection and description of editorial processes. This would involve implementing the formal modelling of editorial processes in the form of a branched and multiple-choice form. Providing this information would result in the production of a standardized description of a publication's editorial process, which can be shared as a declaration (similar to Creative Commons licenses).
Moreover, the developed editorial model could be implemented as a software tool for editorial management. Currently, there are no software solutions that are sufficiently generic to handle the diversity of editorial practices. OJS is sometimes partially used to implement the peer review process, but the software is old and inflexible. A web service could be designed to implement these editorial workflows, integrating with other tools in a digital workflow chain (editing and reviewing documents, web and XML publishing).
Research activities
- Meetings with partner journals to identify editorial practices
- Definition of a descriptive model
- Implementation in the form of a branching, multiple-choice form
- Testing of the form
- Specifications for software implementation
Deliverables
- Repository of editorial chains (textual documentation)
- Self-declaration website and declaration generation (interactive website and declaration code generator, reference pages)
- Specifications for a web service
