In Praise of Peer Review – A Personal Perspective
When there’s a lot at stake, peer review still helps to separate the best information from the rest.
The ALPSP Report on Six-Month Embargo Mandates — STM Journals Die Slowly, Social Science Journals Die Quickly
The ALPSP study of the possible effects of a six-month embargo for journal content shows that humanities and social science journals are more at-risk, but the entire industry could find the precipice if such mandates were to take shape.
Making Mistakes in a Good Direction — The God Complex and Experiments
This fascinating TED talk will resonate on many levels with people who read this blog — study design, arrogance, vindication, creativity, inspiration, complexity, evolution, and authority are all dealt with. The topic is “the God complex” — the tendency for […]
Review: "How Economics Shapes Science," by Paula Stephan
A new book on the economics shaping science is a treasure trove of facts arranged sensibly and put wonderfully into context. In addition, it’s an example of how to design a print book.
Interview with Paula Stephan — Economics, Science, and Doing Better
The author of “How Economics Shapes Science” responds to some questions stimulated by her fine work.
Tea Party-led Super PAC Coalition Seeks to Limit US Research to US Taxpayers
A surprising new coalition of Tea Party and US-first activists begin an effort to limit US taxpayer-funded research to US taxpayers. Will it succeed?
The Famous Grouse — Do Prominent Scientists Have Biased Perceptions of Peer Review?
Conventional wisdom has well-known researchers getting more and more requests for reviews, leading some to suggest the system is broken and about to implode. Yet, when real-world data are analyzed, some surprises emerge.
Is Peer Review a Coin Toss?
When authors think peer-review is about their chances of acceptance rather than the quality of their paper, it can lead to the wrong expectations and unproductive behaviors.
My Utopian Vision for Communication of Scientific Methods
The publishing industry seems to be focused on improving a system that already works well, the system of topical information flows. Perhaps it should be looking at the system of method information flows.
Taxpayer OA is Already Here, In Principle — In Reports
Taxpayer access to US federally funded research results need not involve publishers giving away their product. An alternative mechanism is available, one that is already partially implemented. It is called the research report. Demands for free access to taxpayer funded […]
OA Rhetoric, Economics, and the Definition of "Research"
Rhetoric can’t hide financial realities. Is trading research for access a good use of funds?
Old and Busted: Facebook for Scientists — The New Hotness? eBay for Scientists
Hitting the wallet, watch, and workload makes more sense, but Science Exchange still has some details to iron out.
The Rhetorical Consequences of STM "Madlibs" — Saving [ __________ ] from [ ____________ ]
Instead of filling in the blanks of attribution with the same old agents, maybe we need to go beyond the usual suspects.
The Digitized Book Corpus and the Cracking Dam
A new report from OCLC underscores how much water is already over, and how fragile the foundation has become.
Don't Look Back — Do Scientists Squelch Citations to Justify Claims of Novelty?
A study showing that randomized controlled trials don’t cite much of the preceding literature suggests there’s a problem, but it’s unclear exactly what the problem is.