Key Insights from the OPERAS Innovation Lab Workshop in Zadar (OPERAS Conference, April 2024)

Authors and contributors: Magdalena Wnuk, Maciej Maryl, Elena Sokolova, Françoise Gouzi, Ronald Snijder, Tomasz Umerle
Reviewers: Karla Avanço, Frank Manista

In the ever-evolving landscape of scholarly communication, innovators in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) often grapple with fundamental questions: How can groundbreaking projects be sustained amidst institutional limitations? How can we garner support for our work? In addition and perhaps most crucially, how can we ensure that innovative outputs are recognised and valued within existing research assessment frameworks?

This past April, we embarked on a journey to explore these complex issues at the OPERAS Innovation Lab workshop in Zadar. Our focus? Examining the challenges and opportunities facing innovative SSH projects and co-creating actionable guidelines to empower the next generation of researchers and practitioners.

The OPERAS Lab Case Study: Unraveling the Innovation Landscape

The Zadar workshop provided a valuable platform to validate the Lab’s case study findings and co-create actionable guidelines with experts and practitioners in open scholarly communication. Through in-depth case study presentations and focused group discussions, participants delved into the complexities of sustainability, networking, and research assessment, generating a wealth of insights to fuel the future of SSH innovation.

Our journey began with a deep dive into four trailblazing SSH projects:

By examining their unique value propositions and implementation challenges, we identified three overarching themes:

  1. Sustainability: How can innovative projects transcend the constraints of funding cycles and institutional inertia?
  2. Networking and Visibility: How can we ensure that innovative work reaches its intended audience and fosters meaningful collaboration?
  3. Research Assessment: How can we create a framework that recognises the unique contributions of innovative SSH outputs?

Cracking the Sustainability Code

The sustainability challenge is a perennial one for innovators in the SSH. Our workshop participants emphasised the importance of early planning, community engagement, and strategic partnerships. They stressed the need to develop sustainable business models, create toolkits for reproducibility, and leverage existing projects to maximize resources. Ultimately, the key role was played by the power of collaboration. By working together, we can build a more sustainable future for innovative SSH projects.

Breaking Through the Noise: Strategies for Visibility and Networking

In a world inundated with information, ensuring the visibility of innovative projects is crucial. Workshop participants advocated for developing communication strategies that leverage social media, face-to-face interactions, and the expertise of institutional communication departments. The emphasis was on identifying and cultivating relationships with key stakeholders who can amplify the reach and impact of innovative work.

Crafting a targeted communication strategy, outlining clear objectives, channels, and timelines to effectively reach niche SSH audiences, were deemed essential. The workshop underscored the value of face-to-face interactions in establishing alliances, leveraging onsite events to connect with potential collaborators and end-users, and harnessing the power of institutional communication channels to amplify the project’s message.

Reimagining Research Assessment: A Paradigm Shift for Innovation

The research assessment group grappled with the fundamental questions of what to evaluate (innovators, institutions, or outputs) and how to do it fairly. The lack of clear definitions for innovative outputs presented a significant hurdle, highlighting the need for a comprehensive framework to recognize and reward these contributions. To address this issue, workshop participants proposed eight assessment criteria combining qualitative and quantitative measures, ranging from novelty and utility to user engagement and sustainability. They also emphasised the importance of peer review principles, training for reviewers, and even technological solutions like digital integrity certificates. To revolutionize research assessment, however, participants recognised the need for political action, advocating for the inclusion of well-defined innovative outputs in international agreements and declarations that could reshape the landscape of scholarly evaluation.

The Road Ahead: A Call to Action for Open Scholarly Communication

Our six-month journey to gather insights directly from innovators, while illuminating common challenges, revealed a diverse range of support needs across projects. This realization has been pivotal for the Innovation Lab, as it necessitates tailoring our services to the specific requirements and resources of our target audience. This exploration of sustainability, visibility, and research assessment challenges revealed a common thread: the challenge of community and collaboration. As we move forward, we must work together to create a more supportive and inclusive ecosystem for SSH innovation. This means advocating for policy changes, developing innovative assessment models and tools, and fostering a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing. Stay tuned for updates on the Lab’s evolving strategic services designed to address these unique needs.

We invite you to join us on this exciting journey! Share your insights, contribute to our ongoing research, and help us build a more sustainable and impactful future for open scholarly communication in the SSH. Connect with us at innovation@operas-eu.org. Interested in getting involved? Read more here

Together, we can make a difference.

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