At long last, I've had a chance to read Paul Coyne's March 9 blog entry, Scholarship in an age of participation. In his entry, Coyne outlines the rationale for an as-yet unnamed new scholarly journal that will embody the principles of what he calls "journal as community." The journal, a collaboration of North American and European researchers and academics, will focus on emerging trends in educational technology and pedagogy. It will be published on the Open Journal System.

What's interesting about this model is its blending of traditional peer review and an informal, open review process. A submitted article can move between the two paths. For example, a journal can enter the "commons" track and, if the author so chooses and if the community ratings are good, can then move onto the formal peer review track. All articles that pass the formal review track and are published enter the commons review process for open evaluation, annotation, rating, and discussion.

As Coyne notes, "A journal is an opportunity to move beyond content or information consumption. While 'community' and 'journal' may not appear to fit together well, journals typically bring together the prominent thinkers and interested stakeholders of a discipline. Enlarging the conversation of journals to include deep discourse on articles and annotation throughout, sets the basis for a democratic, social model of scholarship."

My one disappointment with the workflow model illustrated in his posting is the end point: an article as a final product. Even on the informal commons track, there is the artifact of the Permanent Article. While annotations and discussions are appended to each article, the articles themselves are not revised. Someday, I hope to see a more iterative process, post-publication. Needless to say, this would revise the very notion of a journal publication.

I think the future of scholarly publishing can, and will, accommodate a number of different models. This is one of the more interesting ones that I've seen. MediaCommons is another space to watch for new ideas.