Production Plummets at PLOS–But For a Good Reason
Is there (ever) a good time to overhaul a publishers’ production system? If you care about your journals’ Impact Factor, the answer is “yes.”
Conveying Understanding: That Grumpy Essay in the New York Times
Technology is great, but does it deserve top billing? Leon Wieseltier’s essay in the New York Times as well as articles by other academics raise a challenge to the information industry as a whole.
PeerJ — A PLOS ONE Contender in 2015?
PeerJ’s first Impact Factor is not expected to surpass 2.000. Without the scale of PLOS ONE, PeerJ may need to seek a larger, diversified buyer. What the journal has to offer other publishers is less clear.
What Has FundRef Done for Me Lately?
The infrastructure for complying with public access mandates is well under way, but a critical component for identifying funding agencies could use a little work.
Big Sister: Some Beneficial Aspects of Collecting User Data
The collection of end-user data is going to become more important for all publishers and may serve to describe those publishers that will be most successful in the coming years. Although data-collection is often thought to be a malignant instance of “Big Brotherism,” it may in fact be benign when implemented thoughtfully.
Social Media And Its Impact on Medical Research
A social media campaign may have little (if any) effect on article readership, a recent study reports.
Altmetric’s Top 100: What Does It All Mean?
Altmetric’s annual top 100 list provides an opportunity to see what science reached the general public and to think more about what information altmetrics really provide.
Researching Amazon and Libraries
Announcing a research project to study how many academic books Amazon sells to libraries.
Growing Impact of Older Articles
Scholars are citing proportionally more older material, a new Google paper reports. Digital publishing and delivery, and better search engines can only explain part of the trend. Something much bigger is taking place.
Why Are Publishers and Editors Wasting Time Formatting Citations?
The majority of time spent in editing and formatting citations in the publication process is time wasted. We now have in place nearly all the components to use persistent identifiers, linked metadata, and style sheets to improve how citations can be structured and processed. Using these tools can significantly improve the accuracy of references and reduce the time editors spend on this production function. Even when automated, we bounce between linked metadata, then to text, then to metadata again.
Growing Impact of Non-Elite Journals
The scientific literature is expanding while the number of publication slots in elite journals has shrunk. Is it any wonder why many more highly-cited articles are found in non-elite journals?
Stick To Your Ribs: What Does A Scientist Want?
Revisiting Joe Esposito’s post on the real world concerns of the research community. Although many people claim to know what scientists want, the author’s own ongoing survey has come up with results that are at odds with most conventional wisdom. This post summarizes those findings and identifies a near-universal view held by many scientists.
When a Journal Sinks, Should the Editors Go Down with the Ship?
This year, Thomson Reuters suspended six business journals for engaging in a citation cartel. Should the authors be held responsible for the malfeasance of their editors? We propose a new solution to punishing the community for the poor decisions of the few.
Visualizing World Article Production
World production of scientific literature continues to grow at nearly 3% per year. China, Brazil, and India account for a much larger share of the world’s output, while the United States and Japan’s share continues to decline. Interactive world maps show the growth of article production, and focus on the countries that continue to dominate the top literature.
Guest Post: Elisabeth Jones on Monograph Costs and Urban Legends–What's Wrong with This Picture?
Guest Chef Elisabeth Jones offers a critical analysis of a widely-distributed statistical chart that seems to show a doubling in the unit cost of monographs since 1985.