PLOS ONE Output Falls Following Impact Factor Decline
Are authors leaving PLOS ONE for higher performing journals?
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.
Not As Advertised — Why an Academic Analysis of Medical Journal Advertising Is Fatally Flawed
A study of journal advertising support in large, multi-specialty journals fails on many key fronts.
Taking Stock In the Kitchen: A Look Back at 2013
A look back at 2013 in The Scholarly Kitchen.
How PLoS ONE Can Have It All
PLoS has an interesting opportunity before it to push its most robust service, PLoS ONE, very aggressively for growth. PLoS can do this by lowering the cost of publishing fees, which would make it increasingly hard for other publishers to match them for a Gold OA service. This could result in PLoS ONE becoming the default OA publishing option for all STM publishing.
Seeking a Path toward Open Access for Books
It is challenging to come up with an open access program for books that is financially sustainable. One strategy has been proposed by Unglue.it, which uses crowdfunding to purchases copyrights from authors.
Managing Two Companies at the Same Time
Many CEOs of publishing companies find themselves having to manage two companies: the established company and an in-house start-up that is designed to participate in a new paradigm based on digital media. Organizationally this is a very difficult situation to be in, but it is essential if a company is going to persist in the years ahead.
The Persistent Lure of the Impact Factor–Even for PLOS ONE
Despite a growing anti-Impact Factor movement, a quick look at readership and search query data shows a continued growth of interest in knowing journals’ Impact Factors, even for the journal where it may be the least relevant.
Dynamic Visualization of Biomedical Journals 2003-2012
An animated bubble plot of nearly four-thousand biomedical journals over ten years reveals success, decline and the shifting nature of science publishing.
The Rise and Fall of PLOS ONE's Impact Factor (2012 = 3.730)
Are we witnessing the decline of the open access megajournal and a return to a discipline-based model of publishing?
The Personality of a Publisher
While we tend to think of publishing as an attempt to make objectively true comments about the quality of research, in fact publishing is driven by personality. Services that try to eliminate such personality are likely to see personality reassert itself in other ways.
PLoS, Stakeholders, and Shareholders
PLoS has announced the departure of both its CEO and CFO, but has provided no explanation of what led to the management change. PLoS should explain the situation to all its shareholders.
The Hall of Mirrors — Trying to Explain Why Users Value Free Content Differently
Why would free content be differentially accessed across versions of it, and across publications? A dive into PLoS data leads to a potentially reassuring answer.
Strategic Planning and the Not-for-Profit Publisher
Strategic planning is an essential activity for not-for-profit publishers, but many organizations approach this activity with dread. This post proposes a better way to think of strategic planning and outlines its essential nature.
Why Did Publishers Get So Big?
The recent announcement of the merger of Random House and Penguin prompts an essay on why publishers get big. Surprisingly, their own greed has little to do with it.