Why Hasn’t the Academy Taken Back Control of Publishing Already?
Perhaps the academy has not taken control of scholarly publishing because it doesn’t want to.
The Core vs. the Crowd — Why Barriers to Entry May Help Restore Trust
A history of the rise of coercive media suggests that raising barriers to entry may be a remedy. Could a business model shift do most of the work for us?
Will Europe Lead a Global Flip to Open Access?
There appears to be no realistic path forward that achieves Europe’s 2020 open access targets without resulting in substantial revenue reductions for existing publishers. Will Europe miss its OA target? Or will publishers miss their revenue targets?
Guest Post: Time to Check Out of the Hybrid Hotel?
Rob Johnson looks at the growth of hybrid open access, and questions whether it will remain a reliable revenue stream for publishers.
Counting the Holes in the Swiss Cheese: “Read and Publish” Discovers America
The read-and-publish business model has been introduced to the U.S. by MIT and the Royal Society of Chemistry. It has implications for publishers, however, that must be studied carefully.
Has Google Become a Journal Publisher?
Google’s journal about artificial intelligence (AI) coming from editors and authors associated with Google and Google Brain raises questions about conflicts, vanity publishing, and Google as a media company.
Libraries Face a Future of Open Access
Libraries and legacy publishers are in an unholy embrace. They need not love each other to feel they should stick together.
Are Library Subscriptions Over-Utilized?
Lisa Hinchliffe asks, if the true value is of a subscription is being obscured by over-utilization, should libraries seek to dampen such excess in order to have more appropriate measures of the real value of a subscription?
Journals Lose Citations to Preprint Servers
Why do authors continue to cite preprints years after they’ve been formally published?
Ask The Chefs: What Was The Most Important Development In Scholarly Communications In The Last 40 Years?
The Society for Scholarly Publishing is celebrating its 40th anniversary, so this month we asked the Chefs, What was the most important development in scholarly communications in the last 40 years?
Why Was Springer Nature’s IPO Withdrawn?
In Springer Nature’s “botched” IPO, did the market see it as one of the publishers at risk of being left behind by real innovation in scholarly communication and research workflow?
Guest Post: From Supermarkets to Marketplaces — The Evolution of the Open Access Ecosystem
Sven Fund from Knowledge Unlatched talks about new approaches needed to drive open access progress.
FSCI: Training People Not for Where We’re At, But for Where We’re Going
In a sector awash with training courses, what makes the FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute necessary, or different? The academic nature of its approach, the bang for your buck, and the high density of change-makers.
Is Copyright Piracy Morally Wrong or Merely Illegal? The Malum Prohibitum/Malum in Se Conundrum
Is copyright infringement malum prohibitum (wrong only because it’s prohibited) or malum in se (morally wrong in and of itself)? Interestingly, scholcomm commentators and legal reference materials often characterize it as the former–while both statute and case law treat it like the latter, classifying it as “property theft” and regularly awarding its victims both statutory and punitive damages.
The Race to the Bottom — Short-term Bargains versus Long-term Vitality
Haggling for cheaper content today will certainly have hidden and unpleasant costs — large and small — down the road.