This technology, in many areas, offers many advantages for applications beyond electronic money. In the academic world, several blockchain-based solutions have been proposed to solve certain problems.

This publication will attempt to explain some of these proposals. In particular, it will focus on demonstrating solutions based on academic funding (Blockchain and money go hand in hand) and the various phases of the academic publishing process, from the necessary collaboration between authors in the writing phase to quality assessment, once published.

Despite the low maturity of the technology, this article will show the transformative potential of Blockchain in academia by presenting existing and active projects. We will exclude them from the interest and scope of the same theoretical speculations that are not supported by the projects they are currently trying to implement.
Below, we will make a brief introduction to Blockchain and its features, and then introduce Blockchain projects that are relevant to academia, particularly to fund research and transformations in academic publishing.

Finally, some discussion and conclusions about the material presented are presented.

Blockchain and its features

Blockchain is a technology introduced by Bitcoin in 2009. Its characteristics made it possible for the first time to develop a distributed digital currency, which was not controlled by any central agent, such as institutions (central bank ...) or companies (Visa or Paypal).

It can be understood as a book distributed among multiple actors who maintain and update copies of this blockchain. In fact, Blockchain technology and its developments are also known as “Distributed Ledger Technologies”, which is a distributed accounting book in English. This record has the following characteristics:

• It’s shared, which means a lot of people have a copy.
• It is open, anyone can access a copy in which to open an account and make transactions.
• It is transparent because anyone can read its contents.
• It’s collaborative, as anyone can propose a new page (or block).
• It is immutable because the information written in it cannot be deleted.
• It is verifiable that the rules are followed so that anyone can verify (that no one spends money that does not ...).
• It is safe because its immutability comes through an incentive system that makes any change to the record very difficult.

Although it was thought that the original design allowed for decentralized currencies, Blockchain applications have expanded with the advent of technologies that allow the development of other types of applications. Thus, Blockchain projects are located in different areas such as social media, supply chain logistics, entertainment or academia, as we will discuss below.

Blockchain Applications Academy

Blockchain has a wide variety of applications for the academic world. In this article, we present some projects that propose to apply research funding and improve the different phases of academic publication. Thus, we exclude other interesting uses, such as the registration of university degrees or other options for use in education.

New ways to fund research
Like many Blockchain projects, a large portion of the proposals for use in the Blockchain academy also have an economic component. Among these proposals, we present those aimed at funding academic projects.

Source:
Antonio Tenorio Fornes
"Blockchain University" report from Crue Universidades Españolas. Chapter:
"Can Blockchain Transform Publication and Academic Funding?"