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.
The Reproducibility Initiative — Solving a Problem, or Just Another Attempt to Draw on Research Funds?
A new initiative seeks to solve the reproducibility problem in science, but instead seems to be creating more of a drag on research funds, ignoring the incentives of scientists, and raising barriers to its very utilization.
The Open Access Price Wars Have Begun
A new open access publishing service, Peerj, has been started by Peter Binfield, formerly the publisher of PLoS ONE. This augurs a price war among author-pays OA services.
Predicting the Present
The text of a presentation delivered at the recent NFAIS national conference, covering various scenarios for the future of publishing. The argument is that these future scenarios are already evident in the world of the present day, though in embryonic form, and that by studying the “embryos,” we can make reasonable predictions as to where things are headed.
"A Novel Bookstore" — A Review
A review of the novel “A Novel Bookstore” by Laurence Cossé, which imagines an ideal bookstore and the policies required, including peer review, to make such a venture possible.
Joe's Metadatarium: Creating New Forms of Discovery in the Bricks-and-Mortar World
The decline of bookstores has made discovery increasingly difficult. One solution is to create a new kind of bookstore, which is effectively a showroom and community center for the celebration of the book.
PLoS' 2010 Progress Update — Pondering the Implications of a Watershed Year
PLoS turns its first surplus. What will this mean for an organization accustomed to acting like the rebel?
PLoS ONE's 2010 Impact Factor
Does the success of the scalable, multidisciplinary open access mega journal signal the imminent demise of the specialized, highly-selective subscription journal?
Setting the Agenda: Key Issues for Scholarly Publishing
What are the key issues for scholarly publishing today? Setting the agenda for productive discussion.
Nature's Foray Into Full Open Access Journals
When Nature goes head-to-head with PLoS, will non-profit society publishers take the hit?
Sage Open: Open Access Publishing Comes to the Social Sciences, Humanities
Is there demand for open access journals in the social sciences and humanities? Or does Sage see opportunities in unspent equity funds?
Can Open Access Journals Guarantee Sound Methods?
Stating that open access journals publish papers with “sound methodologies” promotes an unrealistic view of the scientific process and a corrupted image of the editorial and peer-review process.
Cascading Peer-Review — The Future of Open Access?
BMJ Open is marketed as high-volume journal of rejects. Did BMJ miss on marketing or is this the future of open access publishing?
PLoS ONE: Is a High Impact Factor a Blessing or a Curse?
PLoS ONE’s relatively high impact factor may compromise its ability to support PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine.
PLoS Releases Article-level Metrics
Moving beyond citations, publisher paints broader picture of quality with palette of performance indicators.