Guest Post — Crossref at a Crossroads: All Roads Lead to Crossref
Amy Brand from MIT Press and the Crossref Board of Directors offers her thought on this crucial moment in the evolution of Crossref and the scholarly communications infrastructure.
Guest Post — A Look at the User-Centric Future of Academic Research Software — And Why It Matters, Part 1: Trends
Part 1 of a two-part look at the rapidly evolving research software space and how it is changing scholarly communication.
Why Scholarly Societies Are Vitally Important to the Academic Ecosystem
Robert Harington suggests that despite the critical role of scholarly societies in publishing and academia, the sad reality is it is the big corporate publishers who win.
Ramifications of the Downward Pressure on Pricing
Publishers of subscription and open access scholarly content are facing downward pressures on pricing. Angela Cochran explores some of the hidden costs associated with a professional publishing operation and asks whether some of the tasks currently done by publishers should be absorbed elsewhere.
What Do Statements of Support for California Tell Us About the Big Deal?
What do statements of support for UC reveal about open access publishing, institutional priorities, and the role of library-publisher contracts?
Guest Post — The Problem Solvers You Don’t Know About Yet: Valuing Disability in the Publishing Industry
In this guest post, Katy Alexander (Digital Science), Becky Degler (Wiley) and Simon Holt (Elsevier) explain why the scholarly communications industry would benefit from being more inclusive in its recruitment and development of people with disabilities, highlighting the particular skills they bring to our industry
Plan S and the Transformation of Scholarly Communication: Are We Missing the Woods?
Plan S has injected a much-needed sense of urgency to the debate about transformation to full and immediate open access, but what are we missing in our focus on the minutiae of compliance? How do we ensure that implementation ensures a more equitable system for all?
Landscape Analysis: A SPARC Report on the Changing Nature of the Academic Publishing Industry and the Implications for Institutions
The latest report from SPARC is a departure from advocacy and is very well done. Robert Harington discusses key findings from Claudio Aspesi et al., for SPARC – A Landscape Analysis: The Changing Academic Publishing Industry – Implications for Academic Institutions
Revisiting — Navigating the Big Deal: A Guide for Societies
In the wak of Plan S, many independent and society publishers are investigating partnerships with larger publishing houses. It’s important to understand what it means to join a publisher’s Big Deal program, and so here we revisit Michael Clarke’s post that explains the changing nature of the Big Deal and what it can mean for these partnerships.
Scholarly Kitchen Webinar: The Future of Independent and Society Publishing
The scholarly communications marketplace has become increasingly difficult for the smaller independent and the society publisher. Here we preview our upcoming webinar looking at the future for these publishers.
Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
If ever there was a time for society publishers to start advocating for themselves, that time is now. In this post, Angela Cochran challenges society publishers to find their voice in affecting policy decisions that relate to their programs.