Community Connections: Migrating off of PubPub or Self-hosting Platform?

[pubpubBot]

In June 2025, Knowledge Futures announced that it is initiating a wind-down of some key initiatives and entering a period of regrouping after a critical funder unexpectedly withdrew its support. We're creating this discussion to connect PubPub Communities who are similarly impacted by this announcement and who may benefit from learning about one another's decision-making processes, questions, considerations, options, ideas, and plans.

[kyledenlinger]

Looking to connect with others in library publishing who've used PubPub for non-traditional projects and publications, especially student-facing or student-created works. I'm interested in discussing alternative platforms, workflows, ideas, and migration plans. Also open to collaborations. Email preferred: denlinkd[at]wfu[dot]edu.

[StLarance]

I'm coming from this as a faculty member, but everything Kyle said above applies to me as well. I just wish I understood more about what's involved in using the source code. What would it take, both technically and financially, to get it running at a basic level? I might be able to help with funding through my institution or other sources, just not at the level PubPub was proposing.

Feel free to reach out: jlarance[at]westliberty[dot]edu.

[davidbuilgil]

At CrimRxiv (the global open access hub for Criminology), we’ve been using PubPub for several years and greatly value its combination of collaborative writing, versioning, community engagement, and flexible publishing formats. So far, we’ve been looking into alternatives and Authorea and ScienceOpen seem to align closely with our needs. We’re particularly interested in platforms that can support:

• Different publishing formats (HTML, PDF, Word)
• A way to link different versions of the same publication (similar to PubPub’s “Connections”)
• A relatively straightforward submission process for authors
• Preprints and postprints with versioning
• Community feedback / annotations
• Strong metadata, indexing, and discoverability

Before we go too far down the road, we’d love to hear from others:

• Have you evaluated or migrated to either Authorea or ScienceOpen?
• Are there other platforms you think we should be considering?
• Any lessons learned from your own transition away from PubPub?

Any insights, experiences, or cautionary tales would be hugely appreciated!