Today, Bonfire's Open Science app has been officially certified by ORCID as a Certified Service Provider for Manuscript Submission Systems. This milestone kicks off a new stage of experimentation, and we invite researchers and scientific organizations to help shape its future.
Scientific conversations have been trapped between two worlds: the informal exchanges that inform and deep dive into research (threads on social networks and chat platforms, lab discussions, email and mailing list discussions) and the formal publications that count as scholarly output. What happens in that gap matters: it's where ideas develop, methods get refined, and collaborations form — but it often remains invisible.
Open Science Network now makes it possible to archive posts and entire discussions to Zenodo or InvenioRDM repositories such as Knowledge Commons Works (with more repository integrations planned), while generating DOIs and turning them into citable, FAIR-compliant objects.
Here is a quick demo:
This advancement pushes the boundaries of social networks in the context of open science. From spaces where researchers primarily disseminate and discover scientific content, Open Science Network enables direct participation in scientific production.
This capability immediately raises questions we need to explore together, such as:
How does citability change discourse? When a discussion thread can become a publication, how does that affect how researchers communicate? Does it encourage more careful thinking or create new social or reputational pressures?
What are the implications for preprints and peer review? Could evolving articles and conversations with DOI-stamped versioning supplement or provide an alternative to preprint PDFs? What would peer review look like in such networked and federated discourse?
What about authorship and credit? The system currently automatically includes all participants as co-authors, but contributors should first be asked for consent to be included (this could work similarly to consent-based quoting of posts). What constitutes a meaningful contribution to a discussion? How can we facilitate healthy codes of conduct and best practices?
How can we promote practices that empower open science? How do we encourage researchers to collaborate and work in the open, rather than falling into competitive behaviors that hinder knowledge sharing?
What about the cost and scarcity of DOIs? Assigning a DOI carries a small cost, not to mention repository storage costs. How to determine which discussions are worth publishing or preserving? And if every version generates a new DOI, how do we balance transparency and the evolving nature of discussions with the need for permanence and sustainability?
Is Open Science Network ready to use?
The Open Science Network software is currently in beta and open to communities and institutions interested in testing it, sharing feedback, and helping co-design the 1.0 release. We expect to have a 1.0 release candidate ready before the end of the year (stable enough for real-world use, with final adjustments and refinements based on feedback from scientists). New features and major additions will follow in later versions.
An invitation to experiment
We're also launching a new website for Open Science Network today, which details how institutions can set up their own instances. This means universities, researcher collectives, and other scientific organisations can host their own communities while connecting to the fediverse and beyond.
But the software is only the beginning. The real work is figuring out how this infrastructure should function in practice. What governance frameworks make sense? What moderation approaches balance openness with quality? How do different research cultures and disciplines use these capabilities, autonomously and together?
Bonfire's Open Science app is AGPLv3-licensed and developed through ongoing collaboration with research communities. We're also offering pilot programs with hosting and engineering support, custom integrations, and training.
Get involved: Explore the new website, review our FAQs, and reach out to explore setting up a pilot at your institution.
About Bonfire: An open-source framework for building federated digital spaces, developed collaboratively with communities worldwide. Learn more at bonfirenetworks.org