We Step Aside: Why Are There So Few Black Physicists?
We Step Aside: This week The Scholarly Kitchen is spotlighting research and researchers writing about systemic racism. Today’s post comes from the resource of Particles for Justice.
Scientific and Scholarly Meetings in the Time of Pandemic
As professional and academic societies scramble to cancel meetings or move them to online formats in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael Clarke discusses considerations for both maintaining revenues and engagement.
Summertime and Graduate Teaching (Still) Isn’t Easy
Upstream from the work of scholarly publishers, it’s the middle of the deceptively paced academic summer when scholars I know are often focused on conferences, research trips, and writing. Summer isn’t as frantic as the academic year, when every other […]
Divided We Fall — How a Fragmented Media Space Affects Academia and Scholarly Publishing
The general fragmentation of media and society has profound implications, and may explain to some extent the fragmentation being seen in higher education and scholarly publishing.
What If Academic and Scholarly Publishers Paid Research Authors?
It’s a question that has lurked around the edges of our campfire for a while — what if publishers paid authors of research papers? Quickly, it becomes clear why this is very unlikely to happen — for financial, ethical, and practical reasons.
Sensationalism or Legitimate Worries? Examining the Cottage Industry of Journal Criticism and Science Alarmism
We’re in a thicket of stories proclaiming “science is broken” and that stealing articles isn’t stealing because, publishers. This cottage industry of journal bashing and science trashing has reached a crescendo. What drives it? And what more important stories are being missed in the maelstrom?
Revisiting: On the Likelihood of Academia “Taking Back” Scholarly Publishing
Revisiting Rick Anderson’s 2013 post on what the options for the academy to take control of scholarly publishing, and whether any of those options seems feasible.
Buried in the Matryoshka — Unpacking the "Value Add" of Peer Review
Publishers often slap labels on activities that are complex, expensive, and high-value. Worse, we often accept people calling these activities “value-add” when they are core functions of how scientific information shared.
Stick To Your Ribs: The Impact Factor’s Greatest Hits (and Misses)
Yesterday saw the release of the 2013 Impact Factors for scholarly journals. We present a look back at some favorite posts examining the Impact Factor.
Stick to Your Ribs: Altmetrics — Replacing the Impact Factor Is Not the Only Point
Revisiting Todd Carpenter’s 2012 post on the value of altmetrics.
On the Likelihood of Academia "Taking Back" Scholarly Publishing
The question addressed here is not whether we in the academy should “take back publishing” from the commercial scholarly publishers, but rather what the options for doing so might be, and whether any of those options seems feasible at the moment.
Altmetrics — Replacing the Impact Factor Is Not the Only Point
Framing “altmetrics” as alternative may limit their potential — they have to be “alternative” to something already in existence. How do we move new measures robustly into the mainstream?
Revisiting PressForward – A Good Idea Facing an Uphill Battle
PressForward has a lot of potential, but a lot of potential barriers to overcome. How it fares will depend on how much the larger culture of academia is interested in change.
Medical Writer Caught Plagiarising — and Other Man Bites Dog Stories
Humor about scientific misconduct may reflect a deeper, more serious side of academic culture gone wrong.
One Report, Two Findings: Library Roles Changing, Open Access Not Compelling
Ithaka S+R has published a report on libraries and open access. Libraries are still important in the lives of scholars, but the trends are not in their favor. Open access doesn’t seem to be meeting scholars’ needs.