About Face — Scholarly Publishing and Social Media Regulation
A possible consequence of moves to more tightly regulate social media companies may be they start looking for new investments. And they already have some in scholarly publishing.
Naiveté Scene — Open Source vs. Scale in Scholarly Publishing
Once again, the term “open” requires further thought to probe the pros and cons. With open source, we may be once again doing things that make the big bigger and the small less relevant.
Why Books Will Always Matter
An inspirational talk by the National Book Foundation’s Lisa Lucas.
New Assessment Process Boosts Credibility of Developing-world Journals
New detailed assessments of journals in the Global South will provide reassurance to authors and readers and guide editors on how to improve their journals.
Guest Post — When Metrics and Politics Collide: Reflections on Peer Review, the JIF and Our Current Political Moment
Sara Rouhi from Altmetric reflects on the biases of the “research industrial complex”.
A Confusion of Journals — What Is PubMed Now?
PubMed is found to contain predatory journals and publishers, likely reflecting a long-term and broader problem, which only adds to the confusion about what exactly PubMed represents at this point.
The Walls Around Us — Why Cambridge University Press’ Predicament Demands Attention
The recent attempt by China to censor scholarship points to a growing set of challenges in information dissemination. Blaming the publisher obscures these issues.
Revisiting: Is Access to the Research Paper the Same Thing as Access to the Research “Results”?
Is access to the research paper really the same thing as access to the research results themselves? What about patents on publicly funded research? Revisiting a 2013 post to re-examine these questions.
Trust Falls — Are We In a New Phase of Corporate Research?
Conflicts of interest and corporate-funded research have expanded, with journals increasingly used by mega-corporations to advance their initiatives. What will this mean for scholarly publishing?
Book Review: Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories From Book History
Robert Harington reviews a delightful new book that reminds you of how delightful our publishing world can be. Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories From Publishing History by Rebecca Romney and J. P. Romney.
Beyond Labels — Does the Type of Business Matter?
The superficial distinction between non-profits and for-profits bears scrutiny. What are the true differences? Is either structure innately superior?
Changing the Culture in Scholarly Communications
Changing the culture is the topic of this year’s FORCE2017 conference in October. It’s typically not a priority, in scholarly communications or in business – but it should be…
Trouble at Hand — How Mobile Devices Perpetuate Weak Business Models
The rise of mobile is cementing business model expectations and driving new monopolies, but the ethics, incentives, and consequences of these models need to be considered.
The Trance of Dysfunction — Why Trolls Have Come to Dominate Discourse
Trolls dominate for many reasons — economics, technology, our predilection for sordid entertainment. But they’ve chilled online discourse and damaged civil exchanges, even making some publishers reluctant to take full advantage of the potential of the Internet. Are we ready for v2.0 of commenting?
Independence Lost — Taxpayer Funding and Information Access Take a Dark Turn
We once assumed taxpayer-funding meant information availability. The new US government is now actively hiding scientific data, imperiling our understanding of the world.