Blockchain Adoption in Academia: Promises and Challenges

Artyom Kosmarski

doi:10.3390/joitmc6040117

Abstract

Blockchain has received considerable attention recently, due to its promises of verifiable, permanent, and decentralized data handling. In 2017–2020, blockchain (and associated technologies such as smart contracts) has progressed beyond cryptocurrencies, and has been hailed as a disruptive technology for a score of industries. This study adds to the growing body of research on blockchain adoption and blockchain-driven innovation in various fields, including transport, finance, and education. However, the impact of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) on the management of science has not been systematically studied so far. This paper aims to fill the gap by studying the experience of adoption of blockchain-based solutions in academia in 2017–2020. The research is based upon a critical review of projects, relevant literature, and qualitative research: interviews (N = 24) and focus groups (N = 4) with startup founders, scholars, university executives, librarians, and IT experts from the European Union (EU), the United States of America (USA), Russia, and Belarus. Key challenges and barriers to blockchain adoption in academia are delineated: usability and security issues, legal concerns, conflict of values, and a critique of political dimensions of blockchain governance.

Highlights

The rapid development of blockchain, building upon the success of Bitcoin, has made it a promising and potentially disrupting technology in many areas.In 2017–2018 blockchain has been adopted in banking, retail, supply chain management, healthcare, even public administration [1,2,3].In a nutshell, a blockchain is a set of data blocks connected by cryptographic tools, in order to make it impossible to change the content of one block without interfering with all the others
This paper aims to fill the gap: its aim is to gauge the experience of adoption of blockchain-based solutions in academia in 2017–2020
The research is based upon a critical review of projects, relevant literature, a set of interviews (N = 24), and focus groups (N = 4) with startup founders, scholars, university executives, librarians, and IT experts from the European Union (EU), the United States of America (USA), Russia, and Belarus

Summary

Introduction

A blockchain is a set of data blocks connected by cryptographic tools, in order to make it impossible to change the content of one block without interfering with all the others. Information is stored in a network of decentralized nodes, and all recorded transactions are transparent to each member of the network. This approach towards handling data (decentralized and distributed) prevents retroactive altering of data, e.g., for fraudulent ends. Distributed ledger technology is an umbrella term for databases that employ independent nodes in order to record and share data in a decentralized network, with blockchain being just one of them (using cryptographic tools to link blocks of data, various consensus mechanisms)

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