Another View of DRM for Publishers
Publishers’ practice of clinging to DRM may be strengthening Amazon’s already overwhelming market position. Publishers should consider dropping DRM and even assisting in the creation of new digital venues.
eLife: Can a Top-Tier Journal Run Without Professional Help?
Can a new open access journal that relies on working scientists to oversee its review process compete with other top-tier journals that employ professional editors?
What We Should Learn from the Collapse of Borders
The collapse of Borders should be a wake-up call to publishers that assume that the core infrastructure of their legacy businesses will always be there to provide essential services.
No Such Thing As a Bad Book? Rethinking "Quality" in the Research Library
Two great examples of books that contain more error than fact raise some important questions of what belongs in a library, and the purpose of acquisitions practices.
The "Open" Prescription — Why It Doesn't Always Make Sense
The rhetoric of “open” seeks to rally science to some higher state, but it’s not clear what “open science” means, why it’s any better, and what the risks of its adoption might be.
The Stubborn Persistence of the Subscription Model
The clear benefits of the subscription model make it enticing even for those who supposedly abhor it. And while it’s right to try to make it as efficient as possible, it will likely be with us for a long time to come.
Statistics and Storytelling — Why We Need Them Both in Science
Two thought-provoking articles published last week in JAMA make compelling and complementary arguments to the rhetorical power of both numbers and words in conveying the message of science.
The White House Calls for Information on Public Access to Publications and Data
The US government’s requests for information are of great importance for the future of academia and scholarly publishing. If you’re a traditionalist who sees open access as the downfall of civilization, an advocate who thinks information must be free, or someone who falls somewhere in between, this is your chance to create the future you’re seeking.
Is Anyone Immune? "Race Against the Machine" and Today's General Purpose Technologies
General purpose technologies are broadly applicable, and when they double in effect like IT has been doing for decades, they can start taking fast tracts of land. Is there anything safe as we “Race Against the Machine?”
"A Novel Bookstore" — A Review
A review of the novel “A Novel Bookstore” by Laurence Cossé, which imagines an ideal bookstore and the policies required, including peer review, to make such a venture possible.
Are Open Access and Traditional Publishers in the Same Business?
We’ve lived long enough with the proposition that OA publishers compete with traditional publishers. Perhaps they do not. Some major indicators suggest a non-competitive coexistence.
Ask the Chefs: "Who Will Win the Future — The Small, the Mid-sized, or the Big Organization?"
Does the future belong to the small and nimble, the flexible mid-range, or the large and powerful? The Chefs reflect on this question in our second installment of this monthly feature.
Cheat Sites: Where Students Turn to Crib Papers
A study of matched content in student papers submitted to Turnitin reveals where students turn for sources but is unable to distinguish instances of plagiarism from valid scholarly use.
Joe's Metadatarium: Creating New Forms of Discovery in the Bricks-and-Mortar World
The decline of bookstores has made discovery increasingly difficult. One solution is to create a new kind of bookstore, which is effectively a showroom and community center for the celebration of the book.
Vanishing Ghost Authorship
The prevalence of ghost authorship in the medical literature may be in decline, a new study reports. Is the issue really social or is authorship partly a problem of definition?