The Implications of Epidemic Risks for Scholarly Communication and Higher Education Processes. Preliminary Remarks

Purpose/Thesis: The aim of this paper is to reflect and to start a discussion on changes in scholarly communication, both in the field of scientific research and university instruction, during an epidemiological crisis. Approach/Methods: Presented reflections on changes in scholarly communication are of theoretical nature. The text emerged from online discussions with second-year students taking the course on Scholarly Communication as a part of their degree in Information Space Architecture (Faculty of Journalism, Information and Book Studies, University of Warsaw), in March 2020. Results and conclusions: The epidemic threat of the coronavirus (COVID-19), which has disrupted our social life in recent weeks, affects the communication processes in science as well. The most obvious effect of the pandemic in the area under discussion will be the development of distance learning methods and technologies. This may also increase the scope of scientific papers available in the open access. Changes are inevitable, therefore we encourage a reflection on their direction so that we can prepare for the shift and actively participate in the designing of the future form of the scholarly communication. Originality/Value: This type of consideration is justified by the current state of affairs. We are now in the middle of a transformation that needs to be acknowledged & discussed to give it the desired direction as far as possible.