April 2025 Special issue: Beyond Traditional Scholarly Publishing: Reimagining research communication

Call for papers

Traditional journal articles and academic books have long been the cornerstones of scholarly communication. However, in an era of rapid technological advancement and evolving audience needs, the conventional formats of research dissemination are being reimagined. Learned Publishing is pleased to announce a special themed issue dedicated to exploring and showcasing novel methods that are “beyond traditional scholarly publishing”.

The journal is seeking submissions that critically examine and even propose innovative methods of research dissemination, with the aim of highlighting transformative approaches that go beyond traditional book and journal article structures, including:

• Preprints and their impact on the speed and openness of research dissemination
• Protocols and registered reports, and their role in enhancing reproducibility and transparency
• Multi-part publications, deconstructing conventional book and article structures
• Datasets as research outputs
• Integration of digital features such as video abstracts, podcasts, infographics or interactive data visualizations
• Multi-language publications, and their impact on research communication
• Platforms and technologies enabling new forms of scholarly communication
• Audience-specific formats, tailoring research outputs for diverse audiences (including research outputs generated for non-scholarly audiences)
• Metrics and evaluation methods for non-traditional research outputs
• Challenges and opportunities of innovative outputs on publishing workflows and processes.

This special issue of Learned Publishing will offer a platform to discuss the emerging ways in which scholarly content is, or could be, published, stimulating debate on how these evolving formats could enhance the accessibility, reproducibility and impact of research. The journal welcomes case studies, industry updates, original research, and opinion pieces from the multi-discipline spectrum of scholarly publishing. The editors encourage submissions that provide practical examples; to learn more about article types and requirements, please see our Author Guidelines.

Schedule:
Submission deadline: 2 December 2024
Publication date: April 2025.

For prospective authors: In 2025 Learned Publishing is transitioning from hybrid to Gold Open Access. An article processing charge (APC) will be incurred for successful publication in the journal and this special issue. Organizational membership in ALPSP enables us to waive APCs for authors in those organizations.

Contact:
If you have any questions about this special issue of Learned Publishing, please contact the Editor, Laura Dormer or the North American Editor, Michelle Urberg.