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.
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.
"Owa, mein Arsch" — When Water's State Is More Set Than It Appears
“Look before you leap” may only be the beginning!
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.
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.
Dark Social — A New Concept in Analytics That Explains Much of What We (Don't) See
The dark matter of social sharing may be visible now, thanks to some smart theory, not more data.
Recuse, Refuse, or Excuse — The Conflicts of Interest at the Heart of Funder-Backed Journals
Funder-sponsored journals raise important conflict of interest questions, and may be fundamentally untenable in an industry that requires independent third-party evaluation of research reports.
Authors Aren't Scientists, Scientists Are Authors — Why Catering to a Role Can Inhibit Robust Publishing
“Author-service” journals sound like a straightforward proposition, but when you contemplate how authorship is a minority activity by a minority of practicing scientists and science practitioners, it becomes much less clear that author service is enough to support robust publishing practices.
Acquiring a New Style of Argument — Clay Shirky on Github
Can the Internet create a new and more cooperative way of arguing?
Jury Duty — Putting Peer-Review Into a Tougher Context
When the stakes are scholarly, peer-review works well. What about when the stakes are life-altering?
I Wish I'd Had This Teacher — The Ping Pong Ball Explosion
And the sky rains ping pong balls, as this simple experiment provides both audible and visible entertainment.
Does Open Access Tackle, Perpetuate, or Exacerbate the Matthew Effect?
While some hope that OA will create a more accessible literature, new data about NSF funding and some logical extrapolations suggest it may actually exacerbate the Matthew Effect, choking off opportunities to publish for those without the funding necessary.
Retractions Retraction — Did We "Overinterpret" or Did PLoS Editors "Overwrite"?
A flash mob of concern causes PLoS to reconsider a new policy on retractions.
The Internet Association, Jar Jar Binks, Regulatory Capture, and the Drift Toward Self-Interest
Trade groups often start with their audience in mind, but over time devolve into self-centered agendas. Will the new Internet Association fall into this time-tested trap?
Wikipedia's Writing — Tests Show It's Too Sophisticated for Its Audience
Wikipedia aims to be an encyclopedia for everyone, but its core version is too difficult for most readers, and even its Simple English offshoot falls short of its readability goals.