Seven Years of Policy Analysis at the OSPO: New Wikibook Volumes Capture Movement’s Evolution 

by | 13 October 2025 | Community News, English

https://doi.org/10.25547/ERMD-EA66

Lisez-le en français.
This post was written by Brittany Amell and Caroline Winter.

At a Glance / En un coup d’œil

Topic / Titre Open Scholarship Policy Observatory
Key Participants / Créateur INKE Partnership, ETCL, C-SKI, Open Scholarship Press
Date / Période 2017-2024
Keywords / Mots-clés policy / politique, open science / science ouverte, open social scholarship / approches sociales des savoirs ouverts, open access / libre accès, open infrastructure / infrastructure ouverte, Open Scholarship Press, scholarly communication / la communication savante, publishing / édition, community engagement / engagement communautaire

Summary

The Open Scholarship Policy Observatory (OSPO) has published four comprehensive volumes (two in English and two in French) documenting seven years of policy analysis and observations from the rapidly evolving open scholarship landscape. The collections, freely accessible through Open Scholarship Press via the Wikibooks platform, trace the movement’s development from foundational tensions to emerging challenges around artificial intelligence and community-controlled infrastructure.

Seven Years of Policy Analysis at the OSPO: New Wikibook Volumes Capture Movement’s Evolution 

The open scholarship movement has undergone significant transformation over the past seven years, shifting from debates about access models to fundamental questions about who controls scholarly infrastructure and knowledge production (and back again). Four new Wikibook volumes (two in English and two in French) from the Open Scholarship Policy Observatory (OSPO) capture this evolution through detailed, multi-authored policy analysis spanning 2017 to 2024.

The first two volumes, Foundational Observations (2017-2020) and Observations préliminaires : Observatoire des politiques d’Érudition ouverte, 2017-2020 by Milligan et al. (2025), establish the conceptual framework for understanding open scholarship as what Jonathan Tennant and colleagues (2019) call a “boundary object”—flexible enough to accommodate diverse disciplinary and geographic contexts while maintaining principles legible within local communities of practice (see also Winter 2023). This volume reveals persistent tensions between top-down policy mandates and bottom-up community initiatives, highlighting how digital technologies enable new forms of scholarly communication while creating new dependencies on commercial platforms.

The second two volumes, Extensions (2021-2024) and Extension : Observatoire des politiques d’Érudition ouverte, 2021-2024 by Winter et al. (2025), document the movement’s maturation, with 31 policy observations examining how institutions, infrastructure, and policy have become increasingly interconnected. This volume traces developments from the Fonds de recherche du Québec joining cOAlition S to diamond open access initiatives gaining momentum globally. Perhaps most significantly, it concludes with analysis of generative artificial intelligence’s disruptive potential for scholarly publishing—a challenge that has emerged with startling speed since 2022.

The volumes emphasize recurring themes that continue to shape policy discussions. For instance, libraries and scholarly communication practitioners remain central to advancing open scholarship, continuing to serve as intermediaries between researchers and complex policy requirements. And the global nature of scholarship still raises several challenges for implementation, as solutions effective in one context may not be transferrable across different funding, technical, or cultural contexts.

The collections also document growing recognition that open scholarship is inherently social and collaborative. As MacCallum et al. (2020) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries notes, sustainable progress requires transparent engagement with all stakeholders rather than isolated institutional initiatives. This collaborative imperative has become particularly urgent as commercial platforms increasingly control scholarly infrastructure.

Recent policy developments reveal both progress and persistent challenges. While diamond open access models demonstrate community-driven alternatives to commercial publishing, concerns about predatory practices and AI-generated content threaten scholarly integrity.

The Open Scholarship Press’s Wikibooks format aligns with OSPO’s commitment to open access principles while enabling ongoing updates as policies continue evolving. The volumes include comprehensive analytical overviews, detailed observations, and extensive bibliographies spanning foundational policies, institutional case studies, and critical analysis.

These collections provide essential context for understanding current policy debates around scholarly communication, from national open access mandates to institutional AI governance policies. They offer both historical perspective on the movement’s development and analytical frameworks for addressing emerging challenges.

Access the volumes

In English

En français

References