The Scholarly Kitchen
Phil Davis
Scientific Reports On Track To Become Largest Journal In The World
Higher Impact Factor, faster publication, and weaker data availability policies may be drawing authors away from PLOS ONE. Continue reading
How to Manipulate a Citation Histogram
Citation indexes need to provide standardized citation histograms for editors and publishers. Without them, it is unlikely that they will be widely adopted. At worse, it will encourage the production of histograms that selectively highlight or obscure the data. Continue reading
Will Citation Distributions Reduce Impact Factor Abuses?
Publishing a histogram of a journal’s citation distribution won’t alleviate Impact Factor abuse. At best, it will be ignored. At worse, it will generate confusion. Continue reading
Detecting (and Stopping) Robot Pirates
Designed to act like humans, pirate robots avoid detection by keeping download requests low, cycling through journals, and jumping from publisher to publisher. Continue reading
Two-step Authentication: Finally Coming to a University Near You
Many of the popular tools that we use everyday require two-step authentication. It seems odd that universities, who store data much more valuable than cat videos, recipes, and selfies, are slow to require it. That may change shortly.
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Bitcoin: A Solution to Publisher Authentication and Usage Accounting
The technology developed to create a crypto-currency may be used to solve two intractable problems in scholarly publishing: authenticating users and counting usage.
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Image Manipulation: Cleaning Up the Scholarly Record
After hundreds of manipulated images were detected across 40 scientific journals, the real work will be to correct the scientific record. Continue reading
Citation Networks Yield Competitive Intelligence
Citation networks can provide much more than journal metrics and rankings. Publishers should look to them for competitive intelligence. Continue reading
On Moose and Medians (Or Why We Are Stuck With The Impact Factor)
If Thomson Reuters can calculate Impact Factors and Eigenfactors, why can’t they deliver a simple median score? Continue reading
HighWire Cultures Northern Ireland
Following the announcement of a new HighWire office in Belfast, Northern Ireland, top management is working on a cultural transition plan for the Silicon Valley based company. Continue reading
If You Can’t Beat ‘Em…Elsevier to Purchase Sci-Hub
Exasperated over ineffectual attempts to shut down Sci-Hub, an illegal article sharing website, Elsevier has decided to purchase the service for an undisclosed sum. Continue reading
Library Expenditures, Salaries Outstrip Inflation
The “crisis in scholarly communication” story is not entirely supported by Association of Research Libraries (ARL) data. Why do we cling to the victim-hero narrative when alternatives exist? Continue reading
Can Scopus Deliver A Better Journal Impact Metric? Response from Scopus
An official response from Wim Meester, Head of Content Strategy for Scopus. Continue reading
Can Scopus Deliver A Better Journal Impact Metric?
While offering real improvements over Thomson Reuters, Scopus may be suffering from serious data integrity issues and communication problems with its third-party publishers. Continue reading
Citable Items: The Contested Impact Factor Denominator
Thomson Reuters’ approach of indexing by journal section and revising by demand leads to great inconsistencies across journals and inflates the Impact Factors of elite journals. The solution: remove the human element. Continue reading
As PLOS ONE Shrinks, 2015 Impact Factor Expected to Rise
How a shrinking journals receives an artificial boost to its leading citation indicator. Continue reading
PNAS: Tighter Editorial Policy Improves NAS Papers
After years of tightening its submissions policy, papers contributed by NAS members start resembling direct submissions. Continue reading
Incremental Improvements Start With A/B Testing
Why do publishers and platform providers spend so little time seeking incremental improvements? Continue reading
PLOS ONE Shrinks by 11 Percent
Can PLOS exist without a mega-journal? Continue reading
PubMed Central Boosts Citations, Study Claims
Researchers claim that PMC boosts citations by 26%. A closer look at the paper reveals serious data and analysis problems. Can we collectively design a better study? Continue reading
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.
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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.
