Revisiting an Interview with Paula Stephan — Economics, Science, and Doing Better
Revisiting Kent Anderson’s 2012 interview with the author of “How Economics Shape Science”.
Revisiting a Book Review: How Economics Shapes Science by Paula Stephan
Revisiting our review of Paula Stephan’s book after her keynote talk at the SSP Annual Meeting.
Project Cupcake: Designing a New Type of Journal Metric.
At the Researcher to Reader conference, a volunteer project was launched to define a new suite of indicators to help researchers judge publishers, rather than the other way around.
Updating Asimov — How Do We Regain Control In the Digital Age?
Algorithms behave in ways even their creators can’t understand, yet they dominate how we share and see information. Do we need a “Three Laws for Algorithms”?
The Information Landscape — How Do We Tackle the Problems Caused by Silicon Valley?
Science’s historical progress can’t be assumed. It has to be reclaimed, re-established. That’s more difficult in a fragmented information space geared for extremism.
Four Ways of Rationalizing Infringement: or, How to Defend a Pirate
It may seem as if it would be difficult to defend or justify a blatant piracy operation like Sci-Hub. But it can be done, if you’re willing to overlook certain facts and advance certain tenuous moral arguments.
Succession Planning
Robert Harington attempts to help you think through how to develop a strategy for succession planning, recognizing that in today’s world, people just don’t stay at their jobs as long as they used to.
A New Scholarly Society is Doing the Urgent Work of the Past
A newly founded scholarly society brings a fresh perspective and offers some useful lessons for engaging the public and researchers alike.
The Tincture of Time — Should Journals Return to Slower Publishing Practices?
Most journals have adopted rapid publication processes, but with the rise of preprint servers and new trends among readers, maybe they can return to a slower, more considered pace.
Collision Course — Why Are Funders Straying from Their Lane?
Funders have shifted their focus, and are funding, investing in, or launching initiatives that compete with publishers and constrain researchers. What changed?
The Tyranny of Amusements — Science, Spectacle, and the Lowly PDF
Do scholarly and scientific publishers risk more than they realize when they embrace modern media spectacle and seek to marginalize the PDF?
Book Review: “The Death of Expertise” by Tom Nichols
The new book by Tom Nichols, “The Death of Expertise,” is not perfect, but it is an important exploration of existential threats to science, education, and representative democracy.
Guest Post, Tony Sanfilippo: University Press Publishing Under an Autocracy
Ohio State University Press’ Tony Sanfilippo weighs in on the role of academic publishers in the current political climate.
The Value of Copyright: A Publisher’s Perspective
Robert Harington takes the reader on a tour of copyright law, suggesting that its value is in supporting our ability to teach and do research, and publish high quality works.
Scientific Publishing in a Time of Political Assaults
With recent political upheaval sparking activism among scientists, librarians, and educators, where do publishers fit? What are they doing? What should they do?