Living Reviews - Innovative Resources for Scholarly Communication Bridging Diverse Spheres of Disciplines and Organisational Structures

Abstract

This contribution presents the concept and analyses the path of diffusion of an innovative publishing idea that originated in one speciality in physics and is now about to spread into other fields, including the social sciences. We discuss the conditions of success and fostering as well as hampering factors on the road for what we consider to be a truly revolutionary concept of presenting the state of knowledge in potentially any given academic discipline. First, we will present the overall idea of Living Reviews (www.livingreviews.org), which are open access online journals featuring an innovative editorial concept for the publication of high-quality scientific content. Second, we discuss the proliferation of this unique concept. Finally, we shall aim at summarising lessons learned from our shared experience in establishing these publishing ventures in our respective fields. Our conclusions give hints for potential future “cyber-activists” who are considering setting up further Living Review projects.