AI for Knowledge Creation, Curation, and Consumption in Context

Summary

The introductory editorial of the JAIS special issue commemorating founding editor Phillip Ein-Dor, on AI for knowledge creation, curation, and consumption in context. The editors frame academic journals as adaptive systems that source, legitimate, and curate knowledge through interrelated editorial, production, and distribution processes, and survey the range of contributor views — from "AI could fully overtake the journal publication process" to arguments that human editorial roles remain essential.

Contribution

A scoping introduction that lays out the special issue's structural questions (will the author/editor/reviewer/publisher/reader roles persist, and on what epistemological footing?) and signals the emerging diversity and conflict in journal-level AI policies as itself an empirical phenomenon worth studying.

Method

Special-issue editorial; conceptual mapping of the journal system as an adaptive socio-technical system, plus framing of the included contributions.

Relevance to RISE

Knowledge-process framing (creation/curation/consumption) for AI in scholarly contexts. A useful three-part decomposition that complements the inputs → knowledge production → outputs RISE diagram.

Critique / open questions

As an editorial, claims are programmatic rather than evidenced; the "will this be our last editorial?" rhetorical frame is provocative but leaves open whether the answer is a measurable empirical question or a normative one.

Key quotes

"Will this be the last editorial that we write or need to write?"

"Academic journals can be seen as systems designed to publish academic articles that impact research and practice. Journals source, legitimate, and curate knowledge for consumption by researchers and practitioners, functioning in a particular context."