The Digitized Book Corpus and the Cracking Dam
A new report from OCLC underscores how much water is already over, and how fragile the foundation has become.
The Scholarly Kitchen Turns Three
We’re now entering our fourth year of publication. Look how we’ve grown!
Margaret Atwood & Cheese Sandwiches — If Authors Starve, Look Who Else Starves, Too
A talk by Margaret Atwood which reminds us that authors are not to be overlooked as we charge ahead with changes in publishing — and that change itself requires thoughtful choices.
When the Price of Rejection Becomes Cheaper
Does cascading peer-review increase inappropriate submissions?
Can You Actually "Sell" an E-book? How You Answer Affects Your Revenue Assumptions
Customers have accepted the analogy that they “buy” e-books, but publishers may be faced with accepting the fact that they’re selling licenses. What this could mean to their bottom lines may not be the most painful part of this shift.
The Tablet Wars Are On, With Big Stakes for Publishers
The tablet wars are on, with special significance for STM publishers.
Providers vs. Platforms — Why Must We Move?
Apple’s apparent abuse of its platform dominance may signal a basic incompatibility between providers and platforms.
Pizzas and Publishing — Why Disruption in Publishing Isn't Coming from Within
Complexity, culture, and baked-in bias are limiting how publishers define value and approach the future.
Permanence and Accountability — Why Publishers Need to Modernize Their Approaches
With more and more science being tested and communicated outside traditional outlets, we may face a moment when faith in the existing system breaks down.
The Beatles 3000 — An Exercise in Historical Drift Based on Incomplete Records
Scottie Pippen was a Beatle? Scholars a thousand years from now might just find evidence to suggest as much.
Smarter Metadata — Aiding Discovery in Next Generation E-book and E-journal Gateways
For scholars to excel in the information age, technology needs to learn to learn. Perhaps highly specialized humans can help.
J.C. Penney's Black Hat SEO and Google — Why the Network Doesn't Justify Impact Proxies
The outer ring of citation remains a point of vulnerability for quality proxies, as does reducing complex things to simple lists or numbers. When will we learn?
Editors for Hire — Providing Assistance or Exploiting Hopes?
Should publishers endorse commercial editing services?
What We Talk About When We Talk About Business Models: A Bestiary of Revenue Streams
Business models for publishers fall into four broad categories, defined by how revenue is generated. Some classes of content lend themselves to one model over another.
Scientific Papers Named After Movies and Songs — Variations Abound in Google Scholar
Authors use movies and songs to inspire the titles of their papers, often to unintentionally silly effect.