Knowledge and Writing: Tinkering with the Scholarly Article

Abstract Academic publishing is dominated by the traditional scholarly article of a more or less standardized structure and length. As the forms in which knowledge is expressed also shape what is possible to say and think, such a mainstreamed publication landscape risks limiting the kinds of knowledge that are seen as legitimate. In response, there is an ambition to broaden the formats of scholarly knowledge dissemination, not least within postdigital research where the technologies and environments in which knowledge is produced and communicated are seen as inseparable from knowledge itself. Drawing on experiences from editing in Postdigital Science and Education ( PDSE ), this article examines various forms of tinkering with the scholarly article both within and beyond the journal ecosystem, including experiments with non-research articles, collaborative writing, dialogue, artistic approaches, and peer review. Based on these examples, the authors discuss how such efforts involve a balancing act between challenging a publishing landscape in which only narrowly defined forms of knowledge are recognised as legitimate and navigating the technical, institutional, and professional constraints shaping academic work.