Dear colleagues,

We (Joachim Schöpfel, Niels-Oliver Walkowski, and I) are excited to announce the eighth lecture of the Open Divide Lecture Series 2025/2026. It will take place on January 28, 2026, at 5:00 PM (CET).

We look forward to the lecture:

🎤 “Legitimizations and subversions of the Open: for an analysis of openwashing in scientific publishing” by Chérifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri and Guillaume Silhol

👉 Abstract:

Based on a critical state of the art on deviant uses of Open Access in scientific publishing, this contribution establishes openwashing as an analytical category. Examining the trajectory of the term between hacktivist culture and rhetoric uses of Open Access, the benefits and limits of analogies, we conceive openwashing as a stenographic concept that sheds light on different phenomena: decoupling between openness policies and organizational practices in scientific publishing, ordinary discourse of denunciation of such dissociations, and low-key deviances in the uses of Open Access.

👉 About the presenters

Chérifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri is Full Professor of Information and Communication Sciences at Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and a member of the Elico research team. Drawing on the theoretical framework of the political economy of science, her research examines how scholarly communication has evolved towards more open and collaborative models. Her main research interests address scientific knowledge production, circulation, assessment and legitimation She is or has been involved in national and international research projects funded by ANR, UFA, CHIST ERA and Sloan Foundation. She is the coordinator of ROR² research project, https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-24-RESO-0005

Guillaume Silhol is a postdoctoral researcher working in the ANR project ROR2, https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-24-RESO-0005,  affiliated with the research unit in communication and information sciences ELICO (EA 4147) at the University Claude Bernard of Lyon-1. His research topics focus on governance and controversies over the production of knowledge and expertise, currently on Open Science policies and publishing practices.

👉 Register here:

https://unilu.webex.com/weblink/register/r1a8cc50eb710c6e85afeff82832ad1a1

👉 Please also see the full overview of upcoming talks in the series:

https://opendivide.hypotheses.org/open-divide-2025-2026-speakers-and-topics

We’re very much looking forward to the contribution by Chérifa and Guillaume and the opportunity to welcome participants from around the globe!

Best regards,