The Scholarly Kitchen
Archive for October 2012
Luck, Superstitions, and Rationality — Black Cats, Broken Mirrors, Ladders, Salt, and Umbrellas
Common sense of yesteryear is sometimes expressed as “luck.” Would we do better if we made modern common sense “lucky” as well? Continue reading
Twilight of the Promotional E-book
As e-books have become mainstream, the art of using free e-books to drive print sales is coming to an end. But there are next steps for those who wish to think ahead. Continue reading
eLife Articulates Its Media Policy, and Risks Some of Its Editorial Power
eLife clarifies its media policies, adopting the mask of an enlightened approach that actually makes it harder for everyone to generate much attention. Continue reading
CC-Huh? Fundamental Confusions About the Role of Copyright and the Reuse of Data
A fundamental confusion between articles and data leads to a call for more CC licenses and less copyright. But why are data being closed down while articles are being opened up? Is there a fundamental misunderstanding of copyright, licensing, and rights? Continue reading
PubMed Central or OA Central — More Strange Behaviors at PMC and NLM Paint a Portrait of Biases and Poor Process
More information emerges about PubMed Central, its processes, its relationship with eLife, and its role as a technology provider. Overall, it looks like certain OA friends get special treatment, and the processes you think occur are often short-circuited and may not even be tracked. Continue reading
“Owa, mein Arsch” — When Water’s State Is More Set Than It Appears
“Look before you leap” may only be the beginning! Continue reading
Book Review: Nate Silver’s “The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — But Some Don’t”
Nate Silver’s new book tackles many topics — Big Data, the problem with scientific statistics, chess, baseball, gambling — with style and substance. There’s a lot of signal here. Continue reading
Competition, Value, and Sustainability — Why This Can’t Go On
Value-based pricing of unique journal products may make sense from a revenue perspective, but not from a sustainability perspective. What are the options? Continue reading
Reclaiming the Lost Publishing Mojo
Publishers have lost ground in the public debate of the role of publishing in scholarly communications. A new strategy is needed, one that emphasizes preemption, cooptation, and innovation. Continue reading
Something’s Rotten in Bethesda — The Troubling Tale of PubMed Central, PubMed, and eLife
Last week, PubMed Central became the primary and sole publisher of eLife content, putting its competition with publishers, its manipulation of PubMed indexing criteria, its competition with publishing technology companies, and its clear OA bias into stark relief. Continue reading
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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.
