From Papers to Interpretive Knowledge Nodes: Proposing the Missing Object in Scholarly Knowledge Circulation

Abstract

The modern scholarly communication system, with the paper at its core, has successfully solidified "research outputs" into citable and traceable scholarly objects. Yet, across the full chain from knowledge production to knowledge reuse, a critical link - interpretation - has long existed without ever being objectified. The theoretical elaborations, methodological translations, and conceptual clarifications that researchers perform when reading papers constitute the factual foundation of knowledge circulation. However, these interpretive activities remain tethered to individual competence and informal communication channels, lacking an independent scholarly identity. The central question of this paper is: Can interpretive knowledge qualify as an independent scholarly object? We argue that the Interpretive Knowledge Node (IKN), while manifesting as a "node" within knowledge networks, should be defined in its object identity as a new kind of scholarly object. Drawing on scholarly object theory, this paper identifies a structural gap in the existing system - namely, that "interpretive knowledge formed after the process of understanding" lacks an objectified identity. By distinguishing the essential difference between "interpretation" and "information extraction," it establishes the cognitive boundary of the IKN. Finally, it defines the four essential attributes that an IKN must possess as a scholarly object: provenance, interpretation fixation, human recognition, and citability. The argument demonstrates that the IKN is not a replacement for the paper system but an expansion of the boundary of the scholarly object system - marking a critical step from merely recording "what has been discovered" toward simultaneously recording "how to understand those discoveries."