Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of content immutability and integrity of online scientific periodicals on the sites of small publishers that can be violated not only by the external hack of the publisher’s site but also by publisher’s and author’s misconduct or by submitting different versions of a periodical to different sites. Design/methodology/approach The authors defined a list of requirements that verify online scientific publications immutability and integrity. Then, the authors analyzed existing projects and recently emerged information on security technologies and identified challenges met during the development and testing. The use of the public blockchain network Ethereum as a secure storage location for data was explained. Findings The authors developed the method of checking online scientific periodicals for immutability and presented ecosystem architecture to control immutability and integrity of data. On the example of the online periodical “Istoriya”, it was demonstrated how the immutability of online scientific publication has been verified with the use of the public blockchain over a six-month period. First, operating results were evaluated; challenges hampering the implementation of the suggested ecosystem on Ethereum now were identified; and potential advantages of the suggested approach as compared to similar projects were discovered. Research limitations/implications The considered prototype is not a ready-to-use system, but in future providing higher transparency and the development of general distributed ecosystem small publishers will have new opportunities for development given that the issues of scalability, reliability and operating speed on a public blockchain will be addressed. Introduction of the described ecosystem may even provoke some changes on such conservative market as that of publishing of academic papers. Originality/value This research is one of the first attempts to expand digital object identifier technology with the use of additional verifications based on the data storage and search in the public blockchain. The suggested idea is the example of “blockchainified science” that was brought to implementation in a real online journal. This method has some advantages compared to Crossmark service.
Key points• The integration of crypto assets into the traditional journal model offers potential for both user incentives and financial security, especially for new or small journals.• The case study reveals low uptake by users, which may be attributed to a resistance to new technology and underestimation of the incentives required.• Implementation of cryptocurrencies is likely to be more successful if it is implemented by many journals and in an open environment for publishers.
Резюме: В последние годы цифровые технологии проникли практически во все сферы жизни человека. Массовое распространение Интернета и различного программного обеспечения приводит к значительным изменениям в сфере культуры. На всех уровнях власти, в бизнесе, в образовании и в науке становится совершенно очевидным, что цифровизация позволяет сделать практически все процессы более быстрыми, дешевыми и доступными. Однако помимо очевидных преимуществ имеются и серьезные риски, как тактического, так и стратегического характера. При этом в истории человечества уже были аналогичные процессы, когда происходил переход на новые носители информации и способы ее распространения. Анализ в исторической ретроспективе происходящих процессов, выполненный в данной статье, позволяет делать более точное долгосрочное прогнозирование изменений в сфере культуры научных коммуникаций и научных медиа.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.