JPBlock: augmenting security of current journal and paper publication processes using blockchain and smart contract

Abstract

Scholarly journals (SJ) play an indispensable role in the scrutiny and dissemination of research. However, the current SJ and academic paper publishing infrastructure is fragmented and dependent on centralised servers compelling researchers to hop from one journal platform to another for familiarity, account registration and subsequent usage. In this work, we advance a secure blockchain-based multi-tenant decentralised framework dubbed JPBlock to facilitate paper submission through publication and discoverability. Leveraging fundamental attributes of blockchain, smart contract and decentralised storage technology, we advance novel capabilities including paper tracking, proof of authorship and voting on reputation of journals while enforcing core security principles on-chain and off-chain. Open access papers are made available on a global scale while non-open access papers are securely encrypted supporting the subscription-like model. Results from our proof-of-concept implementation reveal that the framework is feasible and satisfies fundamental security requirements with journals and authors incurring overall costs of $46.66 and $25.61 respectively.