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SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING AND THE POLITICS OF OPENNESS: KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION IN CONTEMPORARY UNIVERSITIES

SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING AND THE POLITICS OF OPENNESS: KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION IN CONTEMPORARY UNIVERSITIES This paper argues that the development of a philosophy of openness in scholarly publishing is an incomplete project. For some commentators, this incompleteness is understood as primarily a technical matter; one that will be addressed as technologies and systems improve. Others focus on legal and policy constraints. Taking the contemporary university as an example, and drawing on the work of Lyotard and Nietzsche, I concentrate instead on the politics of the knowledge production process. I discuss the culture of performativity that prevails in academic environments, and identify a new scientism at work in the assessment of research. These trends, I maintain, constitute a form of epistemological closure. I acknowledge that limits to openness are both inevitable and necessary but suggest that recent changes in the production and evaluation of knowledge warrant closer investigation and critique. Keywords: openness, knowledge, scholarly publishing, universities http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Review of Contemporary Philosophy Addleton Academic Publishers

SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING AND THE POLITICS OF OPENNESS: KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION IN CONTEMPORARY UNIVERSITIES

Review of Contemporary Philosophy , Volume 11 (1): 15 – Jan 1, 2012

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Publisher
Addleton Academic Publishers
Copyright
© 2009 Addleton Academic Publishers
ISSN
1841-5261
eISSN
2471-089X
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This paper argues that the development of a philosophy of openness in scholarly publishing is an incomplete project. For some commentators, this incompleteness is understood as primarily a technical matter; one that will be addressed as technologies and systems improve. Others focus on legal and policy constraints. Taking the contemporary university as an example, and drawing on the work of Lyotard and Nietzsche, I concentrate instead on the politics of the knowledge production process. I discuss the culture of performativity that prevails in academic environments, and identify a new scientism at work in the assessment of research. These trends, I maintain, constitute a form of epistemological closure. I acknowledge that limits to openness are both inevitable and necessary but suggest that recent changes in the production and evaluation of knowledge warrant closer investigation and critique. Keywords: openness, knowledge, scholarly publishing, universities

Journal

Review of Contemporary PhilosophyAddleton Academic Publishers

Published: Jan 1, 2012

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