Researcher to Reader (R2R) Debate: Is Sci-Hub Good or Bad for Scholarly Communication?
Transcript of a debate held at the 2019 Researcher to Reader Conference, on the resolution “Sci-Hub Does More Good Than Harm to Scholarly Communication.”
Guest Post — The Dissertation Publication Requirement: It’s Time for Reexamination
Guest author Rob Schlesinger encourages a rethink of the common requirement that graduate students publish their dissertations.
Upstreaming: The Migration of Economic Value in Scholarly Publishing
As publishers increasingly lose control of the final stage of the publishing process, they are looking elsewhere to extract economic value. They are finding it upstream, in the various linked processes that lead to the (erstwhile) final document.
Open Access, Academic Freedom, and the Spectrum of Coercive Power
Who has the most power to take choice away from authors?
Is Copyright Piracy Morally Wrong or Merely Illegal? The Malum Prohibitum/Malum in Se Conundrum
Is copyright infringement malum prohibitum (wrong only because it’s prohibited) or malum in se (morally wrong in and of itself)? Interestingly, scholcomm commentators and legal reference materials often characterize it as the former–while both statute and case law treat it like the latter, classifying it as “property theft” and regularly awarding its victims both statutory and punitive damages.
Can Handwriting Be Copyrighted?
A website that provided fonts based on the handwriting of famous songwriters has been shut down. But is there actually a legal case to answer?
FBI Indicts Nine Iranians in a Massive Scheme to Target Academic Credentials and Steal Content
At a press conference on Friday last week, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unsealed indictments of nine Iranian citizens. This sentence is an odd way to start a Scholarly Kitchen post, admittedly. What makes this case interesting to […]
ResearchGate: Publishers Take Formal Steps to Force Copyright Compliance
Robert Harington interviews James Milne, Chair of the newly formed Coalition for Responsible Sharing, on action being taken against ResearchGate.
Even Sci-Hub Has Management Headaches
As Sci-Hub has grown up at the expense of publishers, it’s worth considering what its next steps might be in order to understand what new challenges it will pose.
Does It Matter Whose Name Appears After the Copyright Symbol When Using Creative Commons?
Authors are increasingly applying Creative Commons licenses to their content, when publishing it via Open Access. But after deciding to use a CC license, does it matter whether copyright is transferred to the publisher or if it is retained by the author. For some reasons, transfer to the publisher might be the right choice.
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.
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.
Guest Post, Jose Luis Ortega — Academic Social Networks: Collaborative Environments or Diogenes Clubs?
Quantitative analysis of researchers’ use of scholarly networks shows that they are more likely to be used for individual interests than for collaborative purposes.
Seven Things Every Scholarly Publisher Should Know about Researchers
What should publishers know about researchers and their work? Alice Meadows and Karin Wulf follow up a post earlier this year about “Seven Things Every Researcher Should Know about Scholarly Publishing.”
Curation Nation: Thoughts on the Future of Textbooks
Is there a role for a curated, remixing approach to developing next generation textbooks. Robert Harington investigates the role of curated open textbooks in teaching today’s students, looking at some of the available tools, the way in which instructors utilize such tools, and issues around fair use of content.