Journal 2.0

The Revue 2.0 project aims to help researchers and publishers of scholarly journals in the social sciences and humanities achieve their digital transition by harnessing the full potential new technologies.

Indeed, while scholarly journals in the human sciences have now – at least nearly – completely moved to digital modes (especially in terms of content production and circulation), it is clear that they are still far from fully exploiting all of the web’s potential. By collaborating with key players in scientific communication (publishers, broadcasters, aggregators), this partnership development project aims to better meet the emerging needs of researchers, by rethinking the role of scholarly journals in the digital age. Our goal is twofold. We hope to:

1) Produce an epistemological model for journals, adapted to the digital age.

Through research, we trace the historical mission of scholarly journals in order to determine how their objectives can be fulfilled, if not redefined, in the digital age. The digital transition is indeed not just a technical issue: the generalization of free access, for example, is typically the sign of a reassessment of the role and mission of the publisher. By making increased use of the web, the journal alters the very meaning of the term “publication,” returning to its original meaning: to make public. How to integrate a journal, a collection or even a single article into a permanently evolving digital ecosystem? How should editorial processes be adapted today so that we may not only consider prepublication tasks, but also post-publication tasks, so that content may integrate with the various scholarly communities continually forming on the web?

2) Propose a new editorial model for scholarly journals in the humanities.

In more concrete terms, we focus on the different actors of scholarly publishing (publishers, broadcasters, aggregators). Our partners in this project – especially broadcasters and the aggregators – have made significant efforts to ensure the integration, sustainability and visibility of journals on the web. This project intends to provide additional means of creating tools and protocols better suited to the needs of researchers and publishers.

Journal 2.0 constitutes the first project to unite various digital bodies. We bring together two leading French-language digital broadcasters, Érudit and OpenEdition, and the only aggregator of content in the Human Sciences, Huma-Num, as well as a group of scholarly journals ready to engage in experiments to improve their transition to the digital: French Studies, Intermedialities , Book Memories, Itineraries, Cybergéo, International Review of photolitterature.

This partnership is supported by a team of researchers who, with complementary skills, are at the cutting edge of scholarly digital publishing (including five Canada Research Chairs specializing in digital humanities).

The project will mobilize skills that are both practical (especially in digital publishing) and theoretical (as relates to general epistemological issues of digital humanities, but also to concepts of digital publishing, including production, validation and content dissemination). It is essential that the researchers’ reflections converge with the practices of publishing stakeholders. This rapprochement will indeed enable theoretical thinking to be better anchored in the complex reality of editorial activities.

For further information on the project, see the website revue20.org