Monkey Business — Equal Work Demands Equal Pay
When someone is treated unfairly — through pay discrimination — it’s so obvious, even a primate knows it.
Are University Block Grants the Right Way to Fund Open Access Mandates?
While block grants may be a preferred way to disperse money to fund public access mandates, their actual use may cause problems for researchers and universities.
(Re)Defining the Library, Part 2: How?
After exploring why the library requires redefinition, this second part of a two-part post offers a new taxonomy for allocating library functions and roles.
(Re)Defining the Library, Part 1: Why?
With changes in the scholarly communications world, many old questions for the library are unsettled once again, and many news ones arise. In this first part of a two-part post, we’ll ask the questions.
And Another Thing — A Postscript to the Proposed List of 60 Things Publishers Do
In addition to what publishers do directly for authors and readers, they foster many collaborative and philanthropic efforts around the world.
Insane in the Chromatophores — Squids and Disco Lights
Want disco lights? Squids might be on your path to dance club heaven.
Short-form Publishing — A New Content Category, Courtesy of the Internet
The publication of short works opens up new opportunities for academic publishers that heretofore have had to choose between the forms of the article on one hand and the full-length book on the other.
Bury Your Writing — Why Do Academic Book Chapters Fail to Generate Citations?
Books and book chapters have a competitive disadvantage in citations, but it’s not accessibility that makes the difference — there are more reasons, and more changes needed.
Photography at One Trillion Frames Per Second — Light's Glamor Shot
A new high-speed camera has the potential to reveal the world of light in completely novel ways. This video is amazing from start to finish.
Publicity at eLife — Are Media Embargoes Part of the Plan?
eLife is beginning to accept papers, but is it proper for them to promote papers they’ve accepted without having published the final versions? What will their approach be to media embargoes?
Sort of Significant: Are Psychology Papers Just Nipping Past the p Value?
A new paper finds unexpected disturbances around p-value ranges approaching 0.05. Is there something going on beyond mere science?
The Reproducibility Initiative — Solving a Problem, or Just Another Attempt to Draw on Research Funds?
A new initiative seeks to solve the reproducibility problem in science, but instead seems to be creating more of a drag on research funds, ignoring the incentives of scientists, and raising barriers to its very utilization.
-omics: A Language Parasite or a Legitimate Linguistic Extension?
The recent proliferation of -omics words amuses some, annoys others, and perhaps signals an effort at integrating new areas.
How Cats Always Land on Their Feet — Via High-Speed Video Analysis
An age-old question is answered with current technology and timeless teaching skills.
The Secret Life of Retracted Articles
Retracted papers continue to persist on public websites, in institutional repositories and personal libraries years after they are formally retracted. What can be done to help correct the scientific record?