Scientific Blogs as Infrastructure for Digital Publishing and Academic Communication: Expanding the Model Project “Völkerrechtsblog”

Völkerrechtsblog由国际法青年学者工作组（Arbeitskreis junger VölkerrechtswissenschaftlerInnen; AjV）成立，自2014年起成为国际法律学术数字出版平台。从2018年起，计划设立一个协调博客工作的职位，以加强项目并进一步发展。目的是将Völkerrechtsblog建立为数字时代学术出版领域的典范项目。加强和扩大Völkerrechtsblog将有助于德国法律学术界更强大的开放获取基础设施，德国法律学术界仍然由传统媒体主导，并有助于提高其国际知名度。该项目包括四个要素：首先，它包括项目中个人和组织结构的专业化，到目前为止，该项目完全建立在志愿工作人员的基础上，没有正式的组织结构(1)。其次，这种专业化允许扩大数字基础设施和提供创新服务(2)。第三，它的目标是扩大合作和网络，以便更深入地将Völkerrechtsblog锚定在学术界。一方面，它的意图是让博客更多地参与现有的讨论和开放获取论坛，另一方面，Völkerrechtsblog本身将提供一个交流的论坛，举办两次关于开放获取与全球正义问题之间关系的国际会议，一次在资助期开始，一次在资助期结束。此外，计划扩大连接传统和新媒体出版的期刊合作形式，在结构保守的出版文化中推动开放获取的理念。第四，也是最后，目标是制定一项确保Völkerrechtsblog可持续发展的战略。计划同时监督马克斯普朗克学会在研究所内部以及研究所外部相关框架中开放获取战略的实施。在这个角色中，它的目标是在战略上塑造这一过程，并将德国国际法学术的观点和需求纳入讨论。

Emerging from the Working Group of Young Scholars in International Law (Arbeitskreis junger VölkerrechtswissenschaftlerInnen; AjV), the Völkerrechtsblog constitutes since 2014 a platform for digital publishing in international legal scholarship. From 2018 onwards, a position for coordinating the blog work is envisaged in order to strengthen the project and develop it further. The aim is to establish the Völkerrechtsblog as a model project in the area of scholarly publishing in the digital age. Fortifying and expanding the Völkerrechtsblog would contribute to a stronger Open Access infrastructure in German legal academia, which remains dominated by traditional media, and can help to increase its international visibility.The project comprises four elements: Firstly, it includes the professionalization of personal and organizational structures in the project that so far was built solely on voluntary staff and was organized without formal structures (1). This professionalization allows, secondly, for expanding the digital infrastructure and the provision of innovative services (2). It is the aim, thirdly, to extend collaborations and networks in order to anchor the Völkerrechtsblog more deeply in the scholarly community. On the one hand, it is the intention to involve the blog even more in existing discussions and Open Access fora, on the other hand, the Völkerrechtsblog itself would provide a forum for exchange, hosting two international conferences on the relationship between Open Access and global justice questions, once in the beginning of the funding period and once at the end. Moreover, it is planned to enlarge the format of journal cooperation, which bridges traditional and new media of publishing, pushing the idea of Open Access also within structurally conservative publication cultures. Fourthly and finally, it is the objective to develop a strategy for ensuring the sustainability of the Völkerrechtsblog.It is planned to concurrently oversee the implementation of the Open Access strategy of the Max Planck Society inside the institute as well as in the relevant frameworks outside the institute. In this role, it is the aim to shape the process strategic-academically and bring the perspectives and needs of German international law scholarship into the discussion.