RESEARCH GENAI: SITUATING GENERATIVE AI IN THE SCHOLARLY ECONOMY

• DOI: 10.5210/spir.v2024i0.14006
• Publication Date: 2025-02-06T16:43:43Z
• Authors: Peta Mitchell; Michelle Riedlinger; Jake Goldenfein; Aaron Snoswell; Jean Burgess; Kevin Witzenberger
• Keywords: research; generative ai; academic publishing; Writing; genai; publishing; authorship; 300

This paper charts the emergence of a distinct category research-dedicated GenAI platforms, which we term Research or RGAI. These platforms are explicitly marketed to cross-disciplinary academic audience, promising automate research discovery and writing tasks, such as identifying/summarising published research, literature reviews, conducting data analysis, synthesising findings. RGAI (e.g., Consensus, Elicit, Rabbit, Scholarcy, Scite, SciSpace) rapidly being adopted, in context experimentation, uncertainty, controversy. We define contours by mapping history development developing preliminary typology situate within scholarly economy ongoing processes platformisation automation work. make case for need understand complex sociotechnical systems that intersect with social, ethical, institutional, legal questions, demonstrate this approach through an STS-informed walkthrough two notable platforms: Consensus Elicit. In presentation present our findings generated from these walkthroughs explore implications technologies publishing industry.