This page records the formally released scholarly outputs associated with APS, including peer-reviewed publications, preprints, and papers deposited in recognised repositories. Each work is labelled according to its publication and review status.
Publications forms part of the wider APS Research programme. APS Research also includes completed website research and substantive investigations in development, neither of which should be confused with external publication or peer review.
Peer-reviewed publication
Agency as the Defining Activity of Life: A Viability-Oriented Framework Integrating Process and Scale
Status: Peer-reviewed publication
Spencer, R. D. (2026). Biological Theory.
This article provides the first peer-reviewed formal presentation of APS as a viability-oriented framework for understanding life. It argues that biological agency is not an optional feature added to living systems, but the defining activity through which living organisation sustains itself across process and scale.
Preprint
Natural Selection and Organised Persistence: An Organisational Analysis of Evolutionary Conditions
Status: Preprint
Spencer, R. D. (2026). SSRN preprint.
This paper extends APS into evolutionary explanation by analysing natural selection through the conditions under which organised biological persistence becomes differentially sustained across generations.
Deposited scholarly paper
Biological Agency as the Context for Plant Cognition
Status: Deposited scholarly paper
Spencer, R. D. (2025). Zenodo.
This work develops an earlier expression of the APS approach by situating plant cognition within the wider context of biological agency. It contributes to the framework’s treatment of cognition as a biological and organisational phenomenon rather than as a merely computational or representational process.
Research platform
APS_WEB: A Viability-Oriented Framework for Understanding Life
Status: Research platform
Spencer, R. D. (2026). APS Framework.
APS_WEB is the public research and explanatory platform of the APS framework. It organises orientation articles, conceptual analyses, glossary entries, visual explanations, diagnostic resources, completed research, publications, and cross-linked research layers.
Its inclusion here records the platform through which APS research is organised and made publicly available. It does not represent APS_WEB as a peer-reviewed scholarly publication.
How to cite APS
For formal scholarly citation, readers should cite the relevant publication, preprint, or deposited paper directly. For the website as a structured explanatory and research resource, cite APS_WEB as the public platform of the framework.
Further guidance is available in the Citation Policy.
APS Research
Visit APS Research for completed website research, featured scholarly work, current investigations, and the standards governing their presentation and assessment.