Recently, a group of scholars have launched a new journal, the Journal of Research on Research (J·ROR), published in the portfolio of Taylor & Francis.
Launch of the Journal of Research on Research
The open access journal aims to be a home for the communities of scholars analysing, exploring and/or critically evaluating aspects of research culture, management, governance and practice. It was established by a core team of four editors, including ISiS’ Serge Horbach, and supported by a wider editorial board representing the research-on-research community.
Bringing a community together
One of the primary motivations for this journal was the desire to serve a scattered field and community by providing a central location for all research that identifies as ‘research on research’. The boundaries of where this service would extend are controversial, as the definition of what constitutes ‘research on research’ is contested and constantly evolving, and so is the community of scholars who identify with it. This particularly includes perspectives from fields with long-standing traditions in the study of research: scientometrics; science and technology studies; computer science; library sciences; higher education; evaluation studies; the philosophy, sociology, anthropology; history of science, as well as entire communities of metascience and meta-research.
Navigating the scholarly publishing landscape
Secondly, the journal aims to bring a new format to the rapidly evolving scholarly publication landscape. The current Open Access publishing system has been widely critiqued, among others for the role taken up by large commercial publishers. J·ROR aims to address this by working together with Taylor & Francis. All IP related to the journal will remain in the hands of a newly established association (RORATION), which is also in charge of appointing the journal’s editorial board and editor-in-chief. For the first two years of operation, there will be no article processing charges of any kind, removing all financial barriers to publication. Beyond that period, the association will strive to keep costs as low as possible and to offer fee waivers for submissions from the Global South.
Experimenting with open scholarship
Thirdly, the journal aims to provide a testbed for experiments with open scholarship. Alongside the publication of articles on the functioning of the research system, the journal will also contribute to generating evidence to inform policy and practice in research and academic publishing. As such, J·ROR will occupy a dual role: as a journal that both publishes research-on-research but also conducts research-on-research. From its launch, the journal will operate Open Peer Review in the sharing of reviewer reports, allowing reviewers to openly sign their reports. As part of J·ROR’s experimental nature, it will monitoring and evaluate this practice, reporting on its findings after 12 months.
The journal is currently open for submissions.
More information about the journal and the journey of establishing it can be read in its opening editorial.
Contact information
- Organizational unit
- Institute for Science in Society
- About person
- Dr S.P.J.M. Horbach (Serge)