Does Research Have Any Value in a Refugee Crisis?
How does research translate into societal impact, particularly in light of a refugee crisis?
A History of Panic Buying
A humorous look at how the human brain consistently reacts to crisis in a similar manner — by hording toilet paper.
Measuring the Success of Transformative Agreements
I asked twelve publisher/customer pairs how they will measure the success of their transformative deals five years from now. The responses were very interesting.
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?
Guest Post — An Update to OhioLINK’s Affordable Textbooks Initiative
Gwen Evans from OhioLink looks at the positive results of the consortium’s statewide affordable textbooks initiative.
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.
Revisiting — Transformative Agreements: A Primer
Do you know what is meant by the term “transformative agreement” or how “Read and Publish” deals are structured? Today we revisit the 2019 primer by @lisalibrarian explaining the basics concepts behind these increasingly important approaches.
Guest Post: A Plea for Fairer Sharing of the True Costs of Publication
Mariëlle Prevoo, Ron Aardening, and Ingrid Wijk from the Maastricht University Library suggest a more equitable model for open access publishing.
Scholarly Societies: The Importance of Community
In this article Robert Harington describes how scholarly societies are an indelible part of the research and support system for academics across many disciplines. Robert suggests rather than requiring societies to seek alternative revenue streams beyond publishing, why not turn that argument on its head and more fully support society and academic community life?
The Kitchen at the APE: Five Chefs Share Takeaways from the 2020 Academic Publishing in Europe Conference
Here are some takeaways from last week’s Academic Publishing in Europe meeting, from Chefs who were there (either physically or virtually).
Guest Post — Sales vs. Editorial: The Silo Culture in Academic Publishing
Eric Broug takes a look at the siloed nature of publishing organizations, and how disconnects between different aspects of the business can be harmful.
Will the Hybrid Journal Be Transformed by Plan S?
Plan S proposes criteria for the “transformative journal” – how are publishers responding?
China Strives to Catch Up on STM Publishing: An Interview with Dr. Zong-Ming Cheng and Dr. Xiaofeng Wang
China is making great official strides in developing a system of scholarly communications. Tao Tao interviews two experts for their opinions on how international collaborations and internal developments are happening.
The Tyranny of Unintended Consequences: Richard Poynder on Open Access and the Open Access Movement
A recent opinion paper by Richard Poynder @rickypo offers analysis and prognostication with regard to the current state and future prospects of #openaccess and the open access movement.
Guest Post — The Emergence of Chinese STM Publishers: Threat or Opportunity? An Interview with Matthias Wahls
A look at the recent acquisition of EDP by Science Press, and the larger implications it holds for the future of Chinese science publishing.