eLife Pathways Joins CAIROS
eLife Pathways is joining the CAIROS network, a cooperative federation dedicated to building open and sustainable research commons.
eLife Pathways is excited to announce that we are joining the CAIROS network, a cooperative federation dedicated to building open and sustainable research commons. Alongside founding members Discourse Graphs and the Cosmik Network, we are creating a dedicated space for forward-thinking open science projects to coordinate, collaborate, and solve systemic problems together.
What is the CAIROS network?
CAIROS brings together like-minded open science projects guided by a shared vision, values, and goals. Through a cooperative approach, each member will actively participate in a shared-stakeholder model focused on cross-promotion and mutual support, while pooling resources to cut costs through shared infrastructure.
With a focus on supporting and championing open protocols, CAIROS will promote infrastructure interoperability that multiplies impact, enabling projects to enhance one another rather than compete. This collective strength can then unlock new partnerships and secure better agreements with vendors and funders alike.
CAIROS centres on member ownership and shared governance, empowering all participants to democratically guide, shape, and benefit from the ecosystem their contributions sustain. Through this approach, members actively exchange knowledge, connections, and resources. The idea is simple: CAIROS creates a community movement for open science projects that more naturally aligns with the Principles of Open Research Infrastructure.
Why has eLife Pathways joined?
Similar to the reasons why we created eLife Pathways, CAIROS focuses on fostering cooperation and coordination in the open science space. Right now, unsustainable funding models stall open science projects before they can truly take off. Instead of collaborating, projects often compete for the same audiences and rely on short-term grants, which forces many creators to abandon valuable tools and expertise when funding runs out. These issues are covered in detail by Kaitlin Thaney’s excellent newsletter, the Open Stack.
Essentially, a lack of coordination among open science projects often results in similar work happening in isolation, leading to duplicated efforts rather than joyful systems that work together. This fragmentation splits user bases, reduces interoperability, and silences the community’s collective voice.
CAIROS aims to break this pattern by building a cooperative network where projects share infrastructure, govern democratically, and thrive together. It’s establishing a community-run ecosystem that reinvests the value created back to the people doing the work, prioritising progress for everyone.
Working on the next phase of open science
In addition to coming together around shared values for open science and open infrastructure, we also share a vision for the future of knowledge sharing and consumption. We are at a point in time where research communities are struggling with knowledge fragmentation, outdated publishing systems, and a precarious funding environment. There is no doubt that experimentation and different approaches are needed to tackle these systemic problems.
Collectively, there are three areas we will explore in coordination that we feel converge towards a better research communication paradigm fit for the digital age:
Modular, machine-readable publishing: building open standards and shared infrastructure for conducting and communicating science through interoperable, modular, composable research. We support the Open Exchange Architecture (OXA), and through Discourse Graphs we are understanding how to organise information that focuses on arguments, claims, and evidence, rather than traditional narrative articles.
Structured scientific discourse: Outside formal review, there is real opportunity to harness large-scale collaboration that recognises diverse contributions through social networking and expert-curation groups. Both Semble and Sciety are exploring how to harness community sensemaking and social knowledge to enhance research consumption.
Collective Augmented Intelligence: Modular research and structured discourse enable the design of collective intelligence systems where AI and humans continuously improve each other. By placing cooperative governance at the centre, we can ensure that human oversight is maintained, extractive interests are kept out, and the value generated is reinvested directly back into the scientific ecosystem.
If you’re interested in our ideas and the movement toward a collectively owned research commons, we want to hear from you. Whether you’re a researcher, an open-science advocate, a community organiser, or a funder interested in supporting this shift - get in touch. Drop us a message at hello@cairos.network or share your details via our contact form.