Guest Post — The Dissertation Publication Requirement: It’s Time for Reexamination
Guest author Rob Schlesinger encourages a rethink of the common requirement that graduate students publish their dissertations.
Guest Post — One Society’s Journey towards Equity
Randy Townsend from the American Geophysical Union discusses the strides that organization has made toward equity and diversity.
Guest Post — Rob Johnson on Shifting Relationship Dynamics and Imbalances in an Open Access World
In a preview for the SSP’s upcoming pre-conference at the UKSG Meeting, Nicola Poser interviews Rob Johnson about shifting relationship dynamics and imbalances in an open access world.
Guest Post — Low Cost Textbook Alternatives: Worth the Effort?
When a University of Utah professor grew frustrated with the slim textbook offerings available to students of Arabic, she turned to the library for help. The result was the collaborative creation of a new and radically cheaper text — that got much higher ratings from students than the old one had. How did we do it?
Guest Post — Technological Support for Peer Review Innovations
Jessica Polka looks at current technological capabilities for new innovations in peer review.
Isn’t Leakage Good for Libraries?
Leakage has strengthened libraries’ negotiating position with respect to content providers. The emerging syndication model syndication offers libraries the opportunity to provide dramatically improve the research experience for their users — with a number of risks as well, including the prospect of substantially reducing their leverage at the negotiating table.
Strategic and Non-strategic Society Publishing
Many society publishers, concerned about the disruptive implications, of Plan S, are nervously considering selling off their publishing assets.
Guest Post — Protecting Patron Privacy in Digital Resources
Mimi Calter, Deputy University Librarian for Stanford, offers a useful framework for libraries as they consider patron privacy.
Book Review: Academic Freedom, edited by Jennifer Lackey (Oxford University Press, 2018)
A review of Academic Freedom the latest book in Oxford University Press’s series Engaging Philosophy.
Is the Value of the Big Deal in Decline?
Last week, the University of California terminated its license with Elsevier. Today, Roger Schonfeld argues that leakage has reduced the value of the big deal — and publisher pricing power — while empowering library negotiators.
Springer Nature Syndicates Content to ResearchGate
A pilot project representing the first significant experiment with the syndication of publisher content to a content supercontinent.
Funder Mandates and A Potential Change in Laboratory Dynamics
What happens when regulations around research funding pit the interests of the laboratory head against those of their students and postdocs?
Why You Should Care about Open Access: An Open Letter to Scholarly and Scientific Authors
If you’re a scholarly and scientific author and you think the open access movement is irrelevant to your interests, think again.
Is Hybrid a Valid Pathway to Open Access? Publishers Argue Yes, in Response to Plan S
As we await the next communication from Coalition S, the largest publishers indicate that they will not abandon the hybrid pathway for open access.
Taking Stock of the Feedback on Plan S Implementation Guidance
With thousand of pages of feedback on the Plans S implementation guidance, what themes emerged that might guide next steps? By @lisalibrarian