Upstream is a space for open enthusiasts to discuss open approaches to scholarly communication. Supported by FORCE11—though not a channel for its organizational news—this will be a global and inclusive blog and discussion space, bringing together original content and diverse perspectives from all corners of scholarly communications from institutions to libraries to researchers to publishers to funders and policy-makers.
Contributions will be open to all and some invited from individuals, the latter to demonstrate the scope, categories, and tone that are envisaged for the blog. To ensure Upstream remains aligned with the mission of the FORCE11, the blog will be managed by Team Upstream.
The Scope is Openness
The UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science has been unanimously adopted in its entirety by its Member States in November 2021.
Open science is a movement aiming to make science more open, accessible, efficient, democratic, and transparent.
Overall the scope for this blog includes topics deemed to fit into UNESCO’s definitions, including but not restricted to:
- Emerging Trends in Scholarly Communications
- Gender and Racial Equity in Scholarly Communications
- Global Perspectives on Open Access
- Knowledge Justice
- New Models and Formats of Publishing Research
- Open Access Publishing Trends
- Open Citations
- Open Data Metrics, Open Data Citations
- Open Hardware
- Open Infrastructure
- Open Knowledge Graphs
- Open Metadata
- Open Metrics
- Open Research Data
- Open Source software and code
- Open/Transparent Peer Review
- Social Justice aspects of Scholarly Communications
- Transformation of the Publishing Industry
Code of Conduct
The Upstream Code of Conduct is supported by the FORCE11 Code of Conduct Committee.
Acknowledgments
Upstream has been inspired by the need for a forum for discourse, expressed by the community of FORCE11. Team Upstream is grateful for the funding put forward by FORCE11 for launching the blog site.
The Upstream Community operates a trust system with different roles (contributors, authors, and editors). New Upstream writers will start as “contributors”. This role allows you to write, but not publish (for “contributors,” publishing will be coordinated through Team Upstream). After time and experience with Upstream, contributors will migrate to an “author” role unless any concerns are raised by the community about their initial posts. “Authors” can write and publish a post at the time scheduled by Team Upstream. “Editors” can add to the content of others (a function only to be used by Team Upstream after posting, if a concern is raised by a reader about a post or comment - see below).
Community ownership of Upstream
Team Upstream is here to help. However, our workflows are intended to be self-managed and our processes are intended to be collectively owned by our community. No vetting of content will take place before posting. It is the responsibility of our writers to ensure their content follows Upstream’s five basic rules. Team Upstream is available to discuss whether your post meets those criteria. However, if a writer is unsure whether the content is right for Upstream, they should rely on their communities - asking colleagues in the open research community for vetting and/or editing. No screening of comments will take place by Team Upstream.
Concerns About Upstream Content
If community members have concerns about the content of a blog or a comment, please contact upstream@force11.org. In the case that a query is raised, the following procedure will be followed:
- A note will be added to the content in question by Team Upstream to notify readers that a concern has been raised or a complaint received and the post or comment is under investigation
- An initial review by Team Upstream
- If necessary, the content of concern will be forwarded to and investigated by FORCE11’s Code of Conduct committee
- Subsequently the note posted on the post or comment will be amended to say it was investigated leading to one of the following possible outcomes:
4.1 No further action is necessary
4.2 Post/comment has been edited by the author(s) in response to the concern raised
4.3 Post/comment has been taken down (stating the reasons for this) - Conflict resolution and any necessary sanction will then take place as per FORCE11’s code of conduct.
Analytics
Interested in how often Upstream is read? Find some more information on the page below:
