It’s sometimes hard to articulate exactly what we mean by an ecosystem for academic researchers, and indeed the ecosystem itself is just a means to an end. The ‘end’ is the solving of problems that we have observed as being ubiquitous in academic research. Problems which look unsolvable, until you realise that we stand a chance of making real changes and making academia more human (and humane) if we know first where we are heading. Then we can start to take steps in that direction, and to fix what’s wrong with academia, slowly but surely.
There are many ways we could have communicated the intentions and direction of our efforts, but we decided to do so in the form of manifesto. The definition of a manifesto makes this the perfect vehicle to declare our plans:
A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a new idea with prescriptive notions for carrying out changes the author believes should be made [from Wikipedia, 24 Feb 2021].
So, in mid-2020, and partly inspired by Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science, we published the R Manifesto. Five points to redesign academia around researchers. Here it is in full:
R stands for Research.
R stands for the Researcher.
It’s time to put the Researcher at the centre of Research.
It’s time for something different.
- We give time back to the researcher
Too much time is spent on writing, reformatting, submitting, reviewing, planning lectures, applying for grants. We want to minimize the time required from a researcher for these activities, whilst maximizing their impact. - Putting the researcher at the centre means we optimise systems for the researcher.
This subtle change of focus is crucial. Publishers optimise systems for publishers. Grant awarding bodies optimise systems for grant awarding bodies. We optimise for researchers, rebalancing some of these interactions, and placing more control into the hands of researchers – making them more human, rewarding, and ethical.
- Research is important, but researchers are more so.
The ever-growing demands on researchers mean that mental health, exhaustion, depression and worse, are common amongst academics in the 21st century. We recognize this aspect of research life, and provide practical means of support, mentorship, and advice to look after the most important resource of all – you.
- We help you to help the world.
Your research is typically locked up in difficult-to-access academic journals. We provide ways to open up your research to wider audiences with lay summaries and social media collateral. An engaged public could be your next collaborator, as could a stranger in another country. - We take the search out of research.
We know you and your work, your interests and preferences, and will proactively recommend content, conferences, funding, and collaborators as they arise. Life’s too short to keep on top of everything – let us do that for you.
We’re planning on adding a sixth later this year: Changing academia shouldn’t cost the Earth. This would be our commitment to sustainable web design and the overall ‘greening’ of R. We are holding off adding it until we’re sure we can meaningfully deliver on that promise, but it is an intention.
So – what do you think? Are we missing anything important here? Let me know in the comments. This is our promise, our vision, and our guiding principles. R stands for you.
Christopher Leonard, Director of Products & Strategy at Cactus Communications
Christopher has worked in a variety of editorial, technology and product roles for 20 years in different countries. His previous roles include that of Head of Product at Emerald Publishing, Editorial Director at Qatar Foundation, Associate Publisher at BioMed Central, and Publishing Editor at Elsevier. He is passionate about building a better, more supportive publishing space for researchers and his current role at Cactus Communications enables him to pursue his passion of redesigning academia by placing the researcher at the center.