The Downside of Scale for Journal Publishers: Quality Control and Filtration
Scale can be achieved by broadly outsourcing the editorial process. Does this lead to a loss in quality control, and is this acceptable?
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Academic Publishing is a Goddamned Exploitative Farce — Age of Awareness
Peer review and criticism is an essential part of academic discourse, and it is why journal articles are of such high quality and rigor. But you don’t get paid for it.
Elsevier publishing – a look at the numbers, and more
Key journal performance data for 2015 and other highlights from a business that is doing a lot more than publishing.
Junior biomedical scientists and preprints
Researchers, publishers and representatives of funding agencies gathered at ASAPBio to discuss the use of preprint publications in biology. It became clear through the discussion on Twitter with #ASAPBio that many were unclear as to the purpose of the meeting, how preprints could help or hinder junior scientists, or even what preprints are.
What is the ethical compensation for nonprofit executives? (Should you boycott PLOS?)
What is the ethical compensation for nonprofit executives? (Should you boycott PLOS?)
Over the last week, there's been a storm over the executive compensation and financials at the Public Library of Science (PLOS).
Set up a ‘self-retraction’ system for honest errors
Notices should make obvious whether a withdrawal of research is the result of misconduct or a genuine mistake, says Daniele Fanelli.
“Academics can publish journals of the highest quality without a commercial entity”
“Academics can publish journals of the highest quality without a commercial entity”
Fields Medal-winning Cambridge mathematician Sir Timothy Gowers and a team of colleagues have recently launched a new editor-owned Open Access (OA) journal for mathematics.
Sharing Knowledge, for a Price
While we may be drawn to the fantasy of Robin Hood, it is easy to see the danger of putting one individual’s idea of right and wrong ahead of society’s democratically enforced laws.
On pastrami and the business of PLOS
Last week my friend Andy Kern (a population geneticist at Rutgers) went on a bit of a bender on Twitter prompted by his discovery of PLOS’s IRS Form 990 – the annual required financial filing of non-profit corporations in the United States.
Announcing the ORCID GERMANY project
We're delighted to announce a new project - ORCID DE - launched recently to foster and support ORCID adoption in Germany.
The selfish scientist’s guide to preprint posting
Benefits and costs to the authors of posting preprints as a function of the time of posting.
Would the preprint movement revolutionize the life sciences for better or worse?
Many in the scientific community praise preprints as a means of overcoming the high costs and lengthy peer review process of elite journals, which some argue thwart progress.
Taking the online medicine
Old-fashioned ways of reporting new discoveries are holding back medical research. Some scientists are pushing for change
Is technology slowing down science?
There are three vectors of failure that can be addressed by better technology: time, cost, and the quality of the output itself.
Journal-Flipping Project
A review of approaches and experiences on how to convert subscription-based scholarly journals to open access.
Handful of Biologists Went Rogue and Published Directly to Internet
It could be possible to publish quickly online without alienating oneself from the traditional journal system.
Sci-Hub: research piracy and the public good
The release of millions of journal papers online reflects impatience with an outdated publishing model, says John Willinsky
MIT Media Lab’s Journal of Design and Science Is a Radical New Kind of Publication
The MIT Media Lab has launched a new kind of academic journal that embodies its "antidisciplinary" ethos.
More women publishing top medical papers
Female researchers now account for 37 per cent of first authors in medicine’s top journals, says US study
Researchers’ Individual Publication Rate Has Not Increased in a Century
Researchers’ Individual Publication Rate Has Not Increased in a Century
The total number of papers published by researchers during their early career period (first fifteen years) has increased in recent decades, but so has their average number of co-authors.
This renowned mathematician is bent on proving academic journals can cost nothing
This renowned mathematician is bent on proving academic journals can cost nothing
New startups like this one are trying to disrupt traditional academic publishing.
The manuscript-editing marketplace
A peer-to-peer website aims to disrupt the author-services industry.
Science just wants to be free
On how scientific publishers are struggling to maintain their stranglehold over scientists.
Academics fall short in reporting results of clinical trials
Only one-third of trials at US medical centres are reported within two years of completion.
85% of health research is wasted
How to do great research, get it published, and improve health outcomes.
Zika virus initiative reveals deeper malady in scientific publishing
Moves to speed up the release of Zika virus research in response to the public health crisis highlight a systemic failure in scientific publishing.
Biologists urged to hug a preprint
ASAPbio meeting discusses the ins and outs of posting work online before peer review.
Towards an open science publishing platform
The traditional way of publishing new findings in journals is becoming increasingly outdated and no longer serves the needs of much of science.
ArXiv rejections lead to spat over screening process
High-profile physicist says his students' papers were wrongly rejected by the preprint server's volunteer moderators.
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