Is the Home Page Dead?
As traffic continues to come in through side doors, what is the function of the home page?
Major Shifts in Social Sharing Sites — Do Consolidation and Termination Mark the End of an Era?
The herd of social sharing sites in the sciences is being culled. And one — Mendeley — may be assimilated by Elsevier.
Leaked Data Policy Raises Monster STM Data Issues
A new proposal regarding federally funded data is leaked. What might a broad policy for public access mean?
The Results Are In — A Survey of Book Purchasers
The results from a recent survey on book discovery and purchasing are now available. Print is declining, but still an essential component of the business.
Ask the Chefs: What Are STM Publishers Doing Wrong?
The first of a two-part series, today we review a long and complicated list of things STM publishers are doing wrong. Tomorrow, we’ll explore the opposite question — what are STM publishers doing right?
"I Want" Doesn’t Get — Just Recommending Data Archiving Isn’t Nearly as Effective as Requiring It
Data archiving is becoming a new normal for scientific publishing, but a recent study shows you need to do more than just ask for it.
PubMed and F1000 Research — Unclear Standards Applied Unevenly
F1000 Research has confusing review and publication practices, and doesn’t call itself a journal, yet is now going to be indexed by PubMed — further eroding the PubMed brand.
Online Reviews of Doctors — Scant, Volatile, and Overwhelmingly Positive
When trusting the wisdom of the crowds, it’s important to understand what is meant by “crowd.”
Environmental Lead and Crime — A Story of How Science Needs Storytellers
I forget exactly when I first came across the idea that environmental lead, leftover from decades of leaded gasoline, was a factor in mental acuity, violent tendencies, and potentially crime. It must have been at least 20-25 years ago. Since […]
The Historians Are Revolting — Leading History Journal Editors Take on the Research Councils UK
A group of history editors in the UK publish an open letter stating they will not comply with aspects of the RCUK mandates for OA. What can we learn from this?
Have Journal Prices Really Increased Much in the Digital Age?
A new report on institutional information expenditures raises the real possibility that instead of their being a pricing problem, there’s a quantity problem driving expenditures.
Intellectual Property Is a University’s Best Friend
Universities should seek to retain control of their copyrights and develop mechanisms to monetize them to ensure the financial health of the institutions. This is a proposal that sides neither with open access advocates nor with the interests of commercial organizations.
The Guardian Reveals an Important Truth About Article Comments
Recent data from the Guardian suggests that commenting remains a fringe activity, often dominated by a few voices. What might this mean for initiatives based on altmetrics and post-publication review?
Risky Connections — How Ubiquitous Computing and Connectivity Are Creating New and Hidden Dangers
Recent research into the risks of connected computing raise serious concerns — about personal safety, privacy, cyberwar, and cyberterror. We are at the early days of the Internet as part of the human condition.
Gun Violence and the Politics of Research Funding — Suppressed Research and Tragic Outcomes
The shootings in Connecticut last year can be, to some extent, blamed on research funding cuts and political intrusions into public health research.