Paying for Impact: Does the Chinese Model Make Sense?
In many Chinese universities, authors are paid to publish. And the more prestigious the journal, the higher the reward.
Gaming the System: Do Promises of Citation Advantage Go Too Far?
Promises of more citations if authors pay are problematic in more ways than one.
Google +1 — Google Enters the Social Media Fracas With an Air Assault
Google and Facebook are battling, but looking more and more alike.
Customers Move Online = Bad News for News in the Internet Age
Online news increases in popularity, online advertising grows, and an iPad newspaper pure-play exists — why does this all seem like bad news?
Kevin Kelly on Generating Value in a Free Copy World
A fascinating talk from last month’s O’Reilly Tools of Change conference, in which Kevin Kelly talks about how the proliferation of screens, the incorporation of gestures and voice, the abundance of data streams, the notion of “always on,” and so […]
Why Does Availability Seem to Drive Down the Quality of Information Goods?
While it seems that availability drives down the quality of information goods, some exceptions make it clear this is not an unavoidable fate. Can scientific publishing beat the trend?
Prices, Models, and Fairness: A (Partly) Imaginary Phone Conversation
[Phone rings.] Librarian: Hello? Sales Rep: Hello! Robert from Acme Scholarly Journals here. As you know, for the past year we’ve been working on a new pricing model for our journal package, and now that it’s ready my boss and […]
The Digitized Book Corpus and the Cracking Dam
A new report from OCLC underscores how much water is already over, and how fragile the foundation has become.
The Scholarly Kitchen Turns Three
We’re now entering our fourth year of publication. Look how we’ve grown!
J.C. Penney's Black Hat SEO and Google — Why the Network Doesn't Justify Impact Proxies
The outer ring of citation remains a point of vulnerability for quality proxies, as does reducing complex things to simple lists or numbers. When will we learn?
Gladwell Tackles College Rankings: The Perils of Comprehensive Heterogeneous Systems
Why do smart people continue to seek simple rank-order listings of inherently complex phenomena?
Online Access and Citations — A Spurious Relationship, Economists Say
A study by two respected economists suggests it may be time to admit that we made a mistake attributing a citation advantage to open access articles.
Aftermarketing: What Publishers Now Must Do After the Sale
A report on book circulation at the Cornell library invites speculation as to how book publishers will have to continue to market their books even after they are sold: aftermarketing.
Research in Africa: A Tale of Many Countries Told in Bubbles
National economies and science usually move together. Why is Nigeria so different?
The Journal of Universal Rejection, and Suggestions for Improving It
While the JofUR may represent a culmination of many trends in publishing, there’s still room for improvement.