10.4000/proceedings.elpub.2018.22http://elpub.episciences.org/4611Heinemann, ElisabethElisabethHeinemannMax Weber Stiftung - Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche Institute im Auslandhttps://ror.org/02esxtn620000-0002-0481-2693The Value of Network Sustainability: Why We Join Research InfrastructuresThis paper develops the concept of network sustainability. To become and stay sustainable, distributed research infrastructures must satisfy present needs while at the same time be flexible and resilient to meet future requirements. For this it is not enough to merely build a resilient economic model and be technically viable. Research infrastructures that can understand, address and shape future needs have a sustainable community network. Clear characteristics of a research infrastructure with a sustainable network are that partners gain access to other networks and interest groups, that knowledge, information and expertise is shared freely among partners, that the infrastructure increases partners’ visibilities and vice versa, and that partners are enabled to stay current and state-of-the-art. This is shown on OPERAS (open access in the european research area through scholarly communication), a research infrastructure for open scholarly communication in the social sciences and humanities, and its partner the Max Weber Foundation, a German research institution.social sciences and humanitiesnetwork sustainabilityscholarly communicationopen accessopen science[SHS.INFO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Library and information sciencesAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)2018-06-202018-06-202018-06-20engjournal article https://hal.science/hal-01816698v1open accesshttp://elpub.episciences.org/4611/pdfVoRapplication/pdfElPub - ELectronic PUBlishingConnecting the Knowledge Commons: From Projects to Sustainable InfrastructureLong PapersResearchersStudents