Editorially Surviving an Outbreak
The key to surviving an outbreak is being equipped with the proper supplies. Make sure your editorial survival kit is fully stocked. Here are a few items you should definitely have in your emergency tool kit!
Guest Post – Quantifying the Impact of the New Chinese Policy
Christos Petrou analyzes the potential publishing impacts of new Chinese policies on research assessment.
Guest Post — Report: Gender Diversity in Research is Improving, But We Still Have Work To Do
Bamini Jayabalasingham, Ylann Schemm, and Holly J. Falk-Krzesinski present the takeaways of a new report by Elsevier, “The Researcher Journey Through a Gender Lens”.
Guest Post — How China’s New Policy May Change Researchers’ Publishing Behavior
Dr. Jie Xu from the Wuhan University of China offers a view of how Chinese researchers are reacting and are likely to alter their behavior in response to new policies governing research evaluation.
Will the Future of Scholarly Communication Be Pluralistic and Democratic, or Monocultural and Authoritarian?
One way or another, the #scholcomm community is going to choose either a diversity of publishing models or a monoculture, because it can’t have both. How will this choice be made, and by whom?
ACM’s New Open Access Agreements: A Q&A with Scott Delman
A conversation with Scott Delman of ACM about the publisher’s recently-announced deal with four major US research universities.
India’s Fight Against Predatory Journals: An Interview with Professor Bhushan Patwardhan
An interview with Bhushan Patwardhan, Vice Chairman of India’s University Grants Commission, discussing strategies that are being employed to combat predatory publishing.
Politics and Open Access
Robert Harington explores rumors circulating in recent weeks of an impending US Executive Order focusing on public access to federally funded research and open data.
Guest Post — How Will the Needs of Emerging Professionals/Academics Change Scholarly Communications in the Future?
SSP and the Charleston Library Conference have partnered to offer a scholarship program to attend each organization’s annual meetings. Here, the winning essay from Lynnee Argabright offers thoughts on how the needs of emerging professionals/academics change scholarly communications in the future.
What Do Researchers Want from Publishers? An Interview with Dr Milka Kostic
Former scientist, turned publisher, turned research program director, Milka Kostic is uniquely placed to look at publishing from a researcher and a publisher perspective. In this interview with Alice Meadows, she shares her thoughts on both.
Citation Contamination: References to Predatory Journals in the Legitimate Scientific Literature
How many articles from predatory journals are being cited in the legitimate (especially medical) literature? Some disturbing findings.
Guest Post — The Future of Open Access Business Models: APCs Are Not the Only Way
Highwire’s Byron Russell reports on this year’s OASPA Conference, and future paths to sustainable open access business models.
Whither (or Whether) the Monograph? Karin Wulf and Rick Anderson Discuss Some Recent Research
Karin Wulf and Rick Anderson discuss some implications of a recent research report on the future of the scholarly monograph.
Roadblocks to Better Open Access Models
The conversation around open access has shifted from “should we?” to “how are we going to?” The failings of the author-pays model are becoming increasingly evident. Finding better models is proving to be both urgently necessary and extremely difficult.
Why Scholarly Societies Are Vitally Important to the Academic Ecosystem
Robert Harington suggests that despite the critical role of scholarly societies in publishing and academia, the sad reality is it is the big corporate publishers who win.