Advancing an Integrated Vertical Stack of Publication Services?
We can be certain that, if Elsevier asserts its obvious platform advantages, there is no data firewall that can protect other publishers from Elsevier’s strategic advance.
Tackling Harassment and its Roots in Scholarly Communication: Practical Steps for Organizations and Individuals
Following a rich and lively panel discussion at ALPSP, Alison Mudditt summarizes the cultural changes needed and practical actions we can all take individually and within our organizations to stamp out harassment and create respectful, dignified places of work for everyone.
Advocating for Change by Limiting New Business: An Interview with BTAA’s Kimberly Armstrong
Library consortia are taking stronger positions with scholarly publishers, not just in Europe but in North America as well. In this interview, Roger Schonfeld speaks with Kimberly Armstrong about BTAA’s principles, concerns, and tactics.
Two New Initiatives at eLife To Start the Eisen Era
Michael Eisen’s bold visions for eLife emerge on Twitter. We consider two of his proposed initiatives.
The Price of Transparency and Peer Review
EMBO opens up the black box of peer-review. Is it worth the cost?
Are Cash Bonuses the Right Incentive for Science Authors?
Rewarding scientists with cash bonuses when they publish in prestigious journals drives up submission rates but has no effect on publication success, a new study reports.
The New Normal: Society Driven Innovation
There is much talk in publishing circles about disruption. What we are actually seeing unfold in our industry is not disruption, but innovation and evolution — or rather, adaption to the new normal.
Intellectual Sprawl — The Importance of Constraints on Authors and Other Creators
A contemplation of constraints — how some have vanished, how others are needed, how new ones are emerging, and the benefits constraints deliver.
Your Question for the Day — What Is “Peer Review”?
A recent “Slate” article shows what can go wrong when we talk about “peer review” as if we all share a common definition about an unchanging phenomenon.
Peak Subscription
Since the late 1990s there have been two drivers of growth in STM and scholarly publishing: site licensing and global expansion. As successful as these activities have been, however, we appear to be nearing, if not a peak, at least a plateau. Institutional library budgets have not kept pace with the growth in global research output. At the same time, institutional market penetration is nearing saturation for many publishers.
So the question is, where is the growth going to come from?
The Network Model of Publishing
One of the unanticipated consequences of the introduction of digital media to scholarly publishing is that publishing properties increasingly are organized into networks, with one property pointing to another for the benefit of all. This essay describes the network publishing model and comments on some of a network’s characteristics and economic opportunities.
Winning Strategies for Journal Publishers
Although we in scholarly publishing typically focus on the problems we face, there is a small group of highly successful journal publishers. These publishers fall into three broad categories. To a great extent, these publishers are resistant to challenge.
The New(ish) Kids on the Block – Touring the Megajournals
A tour of four major “megajournals” and some of their neighbors finds a few common approaches and a few distinguishing features, but the entire category may need to be rethought given the lack of “mega” generally among the set.
Revisiting: Peak Subscription
Revisiting Michael Clarke’s 2014 post on the two drivers of growth in STM and scholarly publishing: site licensing and global expansion. As successful as these activities have been, however, we appear to be nearing, if not a peak, at least a plateau. Institutional library budgets have not kept pace with the growth in global research output. At the same time, institutional market penetration is nearing saturation for many publishers.
So the question is, where is the growth going to come from?
Whither Portable Peer Review?
Three companies (Rubriq, Axios Review, and Peerage of Science) have working models for external peer review. Has any one of them found a model for success?