Factors of Sustainability of the Modern Ecosystem for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge in the Digital Age: A System Analysis

Abstract

Introduction The digital revolution has created novel opportunities for the active facilitation of scientific research and the expansion of scholarly communication across national boundaries. The increased velocity and scale of interaction afforded by digital technologies are fostering qualitative transformations in the functioning of scholarly periodicals. The aim of the present study is to examine the sustainability factors of the scientific knowledge dissemination ecosystem, with particular emphasis on the capabilities of the contemporary scholarly journal as a self-improving system. Methodology. The methodological framework integrates systems, network, cluster, and interdisciplinary approaches, complemented by sustainability assessment methods—specifically the Herfindahl index and the Matthew effect—and a bibliometric analysis of the content of a modern scholarly journal over the period 2020–2025. Results. Four groups of sustainability factors are identified and characterized: structural-organizational, communication-network, adaptive-digital, and reputational-metric. The findings indicate that the sustainability of the system is determined by a complex of factors, including openness of scholarly communication, transparency of editorial processes, organizational adaptability, and well-developed network interaction. Scientific Novelty. The scientific novelty of this work lies in the formulation and resolution of the task of identifying the key mechanisms and structural components that constitute the ecosystem of the modern scholarly journal in the digital era, with a specific focus on self-improvement factors. Practical Significance The findings of this article can be applied in the practical activities of specialists involved in developing and implementing ecosystem models in the humanities, as well as for diagnosing the sustainability of scholarly publications