Horos is a new academic pre-print platform for the humanities. We encourage interdisciplinary research collaboration and knowledge transfer. Papers submitted to Horos will be released to community members for reviews and comments. All members can participate in the process, and they are expected to provide feedback in a timely manner. Authors, depending on the outcome of the process, may consider publication with Horos or they may submit their papers to other academic journals.

As founding members of Horos, we advocate an open academic reviewing system to overcome the shortcomings of the conventional double-blind system. It is our intention to be inclusive, fair, and efficient. We believe that this new open system will be a key to cutting-edge thoughts. We name it after “Horos”, the ancient Greek word for the horizon.

 

Why We Need a New System

 

Developed in the second half of the last century, the blind-review system in academic publishing was dedicated to the fast-growing scientific research and explosion of research data. However, it does not favor the general development of humanities research in many ways. First, most outputs of humanities research are thoughts, opinions, and ideas instead of facts and empirical information. Only two reviewers are insufficient to judge the quality of the paper, especially when they disagree on open questions rather than factual issues. Broadly speaking, it is simpler to challenge new ideas than appreciate them. This happens in review process and consequently new ideas are usually rejected too hastily even before reaching a broader audience and discussion.

Second, the difficulty of publishing new thoughts also isolates the academic circle from wider readership. While most concerns of humanities are closely related to issues in daily life, many scholarships of humanities are clustered with jargon that estranges the general public and even scholars of other disciplines. Finally, the long review process and low acceptance rate impede the exchange of ideas as well as timely reflection on contemporary issues.

In response to these shortcomings, Horos is a new, open, and decentralized academic reviewing system for the humanities. Our goal is to explore a new model of academic reviewing and publishing so that thoughts and insights may flourish in conversations.

 

Characteristics of Open-Review System

 

Issue and Target Readers

While the traditional blind-review system in the humanities acknowledge the value of specialization, it also narrows the scope of the review process. In cases that there should only be two reviewers, editors invariably opt for those who are from related fields as much as possible. Reputable scholars are also prioritized as the initial readers of unpublished academic papers. As a result, most authors pay attention not anymore to the issues that they or general readers would mind but only to the problems that matter to a small group of experts (i.e., reputable scholars, journal editors). While we agree that such expertise is indispensable, it should not undermine the commitment to studying the humanities in contemplating problems of daily human life.

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Therefore, Horos advocate crossing the borderline among disciplines. We encourage cutting-edge papers which directly deal with authentic issues instead of nuances. We also look forward to authors who regard the general public and researchers of other areas as potential readers. In Horos, all papers are openly reviewed by academic members from different disciplines in the Horos community. An article can be accepted if it can catch the attention as well as stir the interest of scholars or reviewers from various fields. We also call for papers regularly on specific themes to invoke interdisciplinary contemplation of common issues in the humanities.

 

Open Review

All manuscripts submitted to Horos are open for review by all members. The manuscripts, reviews, and comments are anonymized. After receiving the reviews and comments, the authors can revise and write a response. The members will vote to decide if a manuscript will be accepted.

The advantage of an open review system is that the acceptance of paper is not solely determined by two reviewers. All review comments will be open to community members so that they can judge the quality of the comments before making the vote. Since acceptance of the manuscript is based on communal vote, low-quality comments will not affect the acceptance of the manuscript. Furthermore, review comments will be released together with the accepted manuscripts so that all reviewers should be responsible for their comments.

 

Coordination With the Existing Academic System

Horos releases pre-print manuscripts internally to members without occupying copyright. Therefore, an author may get comments and feedback from Horos, revise their manuscripts, and then submit it to other journals. With such openness and welcoming attitude, Horos serves as a platform for junior scholars to gain experience and explore new ideas, methodologies, and questions. Horos members can also call for collaboration and initiate interdisciplinary research projects in the community.

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In addition, Horos encourages free and open-access publication on the Horos website. Online papers will be posted directly after the acceptance. Authors can gain immediate feedback and they can respond on the discussion thread. We hope that these new ways of academic coordination will foster new thoughts and ideas which are otherwise impossible in the traditional system.  

 

Prospect

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In the long run, the Horos community and its open-review system will hopefully be incorporated with blockchain technology to become a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). DAO is a forefront mode of organization that, in the current age of web 3.0, prevails in finance, arts, publishing, etc.

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Gigantic publishers monopolize the traditional mode of publication. They sell articles and books at a high price without fair pay-off for the voluntary work of scholars. Commercial publishing has segregated knowledge from the general public. DAO is a revolutionary way of collaboration. Any member of the community can initiate new projects and call for collaboration. The smart contract between stakeholders (nodes) will record the contribution of each member. The published paper is open for sale separately at a reasonable price. Profit will be transferred automatically to authors, reviewers, and editors. People can also pay to join academic activities such as seminars, reading clubs, tutorials, consultations, conferences, etc. Readers can pay to consult an expert about problems that interest them. Scholars can, in turn, understand the public expectation of academics. This system, therefore, encourages cooperation instead of competition. Scholars can work together, create something new, and share the reward for collaborative outcome. 

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Based on this bond between scholarsand society, Horos, in the long run, will build a decentralized business model. In this way, scholars can directly benefit financially from their own contributions. This is expected to free scholars from reliance on institutional positions and it will also yield greater independence for researchers. In addition, the support of a wider audience may result to more opportunities to conduct research. This will help in solving the problem of limited budget of research agencies or institutions.

If you wish to join our decentralizing academic movement, please join the Horos community by subscribing to our Facebook group.

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We stand in solidarity for TRUTH, COOPERATION, and ACADEMIC FREEDOM.