The Scholarly Kitchen
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The Big Deal, the Medium Deal, and the Tiny Deal
The Big Deal has emerged because it had to. Where do we go from here? The answer isn’t clear. Continue reading
Today's Specials and Featured Items
The use of NDAs is praised by some, abhorred by others. Why they exist in pricing negotiations reveals a lot about not only about market forces, but also the value of discretion. Continue reading
Another petition is brewing, but perhaps we should aim higher than accessibility and upwards to true intellectual access. To do this, it takes a lot of work, care, and thought. It is not a simple matter at all. Continue reading
PeerJ has the potential to create a divergent path to OA publishing, but its business model isn’t clear. As a service company, there are intangibles it needs to get right in the meantime. Continue reading
While patron-driven acquisitions is likely to reduce publishers’ revenue in the short-term, over the long term it is likely that the revenue will be restored and even enhances. This post lists all the “PDA offsets” a publisher should consider. Continue reading
Purchasing artificial trust and reputation on the Internet has never been easier or cheaper. What does this mean for metrics-based evaluations? Continue reading
The GSU case serves as a strong rebuke for publishers over fair use and copyright claims, while recognizing that some boundaries remain. Continue reading
The culture of cheap has consequences, often expensive ones. Our culture of austerity economics has embraced it, to disastrous effect. Should scholarly publishing be on guard? Continue reading
We often talk about products and services, but which is our primary value base? Continue reading
A new open access publishing service, Peerj, has been started by Peter Binfield, formerly the publisher of PLoS ONE. This augurs a price war among author-pays OA services. Continue reading
Publication rewards productive scientists but has the unintended consequences of isolating scholars, reducing knowledge transfer and steering scientists away from engaging in policy and the press. Continue reading
The UK Government Science Minister articulates a plan for open access and open data for UK research. The implications aren’t clear, but the intentions are. Continue reading
Is there a new form of conflict of interest in the world: BioMed Central’s corporate sponsorship of author fees? Continue reading
Claims that technological innovations can smash cultures and revolutionize the fundamentals of scientific communication mistake superficial changes for deep changes. Technology alone isn’t enough. In fact, it seems that publishing changes technology. Continue reading
A PLoS ONE article recently went viral, hitting the front page of Reddit and garnering an amazing amount of reader interest. This was great news for the journal and the paper’s authors, but raises questions for the notion of post-publication peer review. As Kent Anderson recently discussed, the idea of post-publication peer review is nothing … Continue reading
When we talk about peer-review, we often gloss over the important role of editorial review, which precedes external peer-review — in some cases, eliminating a majority of papers while raising an important type of quality. Continue reading
In my previous posting, I focused on what I believe to be dim prospects for the Encyclopedia Britannica as it transforms from a set of printed volumes into a networked online information portal. My skepticism stems from the fact that although the EB claims to offer “the breadth of the world’s knowledge,” its coverage of … Continue reading
In another rhetorical land grab, OA activists are aligning themselves with the Arab Spring by claiming their boycotts are the start of an “academic spring.” Not only are the two not comparable, but obviously the wrong target of oppression and exploitation has been identified. Continue reading
A new book on the economics shaping science is a treasure trove of facts arranged sensibly and put wonderfully into context. In addition, it’s an example of how to design a print book. Continue reading
Cheap, effective, and nearly undetectable — editors devise citation cartels to drive up their journal’s impact factor. Continue reading
Testing the hypothesis that editors are manipulating publication dates to increase their journal’s Impact Factor. Continue reading
The current crop of ebooks simply don’t do many of the things that scholars require, leading scholars to urge libraries to continue to collect print books. Perhaps a new kind of service is required to get more scholars to migrate to all-digital solutions. Continue reading
UKSG Coverage – The Future of Scholarly Journals: slow evolution, rapid transformation – or redundancy? @CameronNeylon and @Michael_Mabe debate at #UKSGlive Continue reading
There’s much more to making “post-publication peer-review” work, much less a valid form of peer-review. Rebranding comments and letters isn’t sufficient. Maybe it’s time to recognize over-reach. Continue reading
Did the Encyclopedia Britannica stop printing because of the limitations of print? Or is there something more pernicious at the roots of Britannica’s problems? Continue reading
A recent study of preservation practices for digital materials raises fundamental questions that aren’t so easy to answer. Continue reading
A profile of predatory author-pays OA publishers pulls a punch or two, but reveals that all models have extremes. What we do to make these extremes truly marginal and unacceptable is a larger question. Continue reading
While publishers are the targets of complaints about keeping taxpayer-funded research from reaching the public, where is the outcry when studies show less than 1/4 mandatory reporting requirements are fulfilled by researchers? Continue reading
Fewer than half of NIH sponsored clinical trials are published within 30 months, and 4 out of 5 FDA trials fail to publicly register results (as mandated by law), studies published in the BMJ report. Authors and sponsors may be the strongest source of reporting bias. Continue reading
Over the past three decades, the research library has been receiving a smaller proportion of the university budget. Does this trend reflect the failure of library administrators and the declining relevance of libraries? Or does it tell the story of self-control and growing efficiency against a backdrop of spiraling higher education costs? Continue reading
Authors
Kent Anderson
Phil Davis
Stewart Wills
Joseph Esposito
Ann Michael
David Crotty
Michael Clarke
Rick Anderson
David Smith
David Wojick
Tim Vines
The mission of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) is "[t]o advance scholarly publishing and communication, and the professional development of its members through education, collaboration, and networking." SSP established The Scholarly Kitchen blog in February 2008 to keep SSP members and interested parties aware of new developments in publishing.
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The Scholarly Kitchen is a moderated and independent blog. Opinions on The Scholarly Kitchen are those of the authors. They are not necessarily those held by the Society for Scholarly Publishing nor by their respective employers.
Authors
The mission of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) is "[t]o advance scholarly publishing and communication, and the professional development of its members through education, collaboration, and networking." SSP established The Scholarly Kitchen blog in February 2008 to keep SSP members and interested parties aware of new developments in publishing.
......................................
The Scholarly Kitchen is a moderated and independent blog. Opinions on The Scholarly Kitchen are those of the authors. They are not necessarily those held by the Society for Scholarly Publishing nor by their respective employers.
