Impact Factors — A Self-fulfilling Prophecy?
A new study analyzing the citation performance of identical articles in multiple sources provides new insight into the causes of citation. But does it accomplish its goals?
Serious Games, Science Communication, and One Utopian Vision
Transitioning from an information provision industry to an information experience industry will require change. How can we achieve this large-scale shift to meet emerging customer expectations?
Forgetting the F-bomb: How Cheap Memory Makes Normal Conference Chat Costly
An argument for why conferences should not be recorded and rebroadcast.
Fears and Hopes: Publishing Through the Lenses of Sustainability, Quality, and Chaos
Quality, chaos, and sustainability — terms we throw around, yet each requires more careful thought. Nicholas Carr and Clay Shirky square off to debate where we’re headed in roughly these terms.
A Weapon of Mass Instruction: The Bookmobile Meets the Batmobile
Giving books away for free, with panache!
Live Blogging the Food Fight
Today at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time, tune in to this spot for real-time coverage of “The Scholarly Kitchen Live” at the SSP annual meeting.
From a Production Industry to a Technology Industry
How can publishers maximize the value and reach of their content using new technologies? The ACS, Cell Press, and PubGet offer their solutions.
Lessons Learned and Lessons Learning: STM Stalwarts Reflect on Career Paths and Making Choices
In an industry where energy, youth, and innovation are often valued over experience, what can be learned from a panel of wizened members of the publishing industry?
In Search of Sustainability: Business Models in Publishing
Experimentation and choice are key to finding long-term sustainability.
Applications: The Future of Science Communication?
“Building apps is not all unicorns and rainbows.” Publishers should take a practical, iterative, and collaborative approach to delivering content.
Kahle: Distributed Services a Solution to Monopoly Control
“Scholarly publishing is too important to be monopolized!” Solution to digitization is decentralized commerce.
Brewster Kahle: Making Lending and Vending Work for Publishers, Librarians, and Users
Brewster Kahle kicks off the SSP Annual Meeting with a talk about storage, scanning, lending, and vending. But he also acknowledges that not everything needs to be saved.
Umpiring and Peer-Review: Why a Perfect Game Is Still a Perfect Game
When clearly observable facts are ignored and post-hoc analysis abandoned, great achievements can be undercut by injustices.
Arguing Against Links: Are They Distracting, Counterproductive, and Anti-Intellectual?
Is there a good case against linking? Or are links just an updated version of an old idea?
Academic Incentives Gone Awry: Why Junk Persists in the Scientific Literature
The system of scientific publication is broken, with rewards cynically exploited by many players while science fills with more and more garbage. How can we fix this?