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How China's New Policy May Change Researchers' Publishing Behavior

How China's New Policy May Change Researchers' Publishing Behavior

A researcher from the Wuhan University of China offers a view of how Chinese researchers are reacting and are likely to alter their behavior in response to new policies governing research evaluation.

How Academic Science Gave Its Soul to the Publishing Industry

How Academic Science Gave Its Soul to the Publishing Industry

Self-governance of science was supposed to mean freedom of inquiry, but it also ended up serving the business model of scientific publishers while undermining the goals of science policy.

Historical Comparison of Gender Inequality in Scientific Careers Across Countries and Disciplines

Historical Comparison of Gender Inequality in Scientific Careers Across Countries and Disciplines

A study suggests that the productivity and impact of gender differences are explained by different publishing career lengths and dropout rates. This inequality in academic publishing has important consequences for institutions and policy makers.

Read-and-Publish Open Access Deals Are Heightening Global Inequalities in Access to Publication

Read-and-Publish Open Access Deals Are Heightening Global Inequalities in Access to Publication

Opinion piece argues that Plan S deals have streamlined open access provision in the global North while exacerbating existing inequalities in scholarly publishing, by establishing and entrenching a two-tier system of scholarly publishing based on access to funds. 

PLOS and the University of California Announce Open Access Publishing Agreement

PLOS and the University of California Announce Open Access Publishing Agreement

The Public Library of Science (PLOS) and the University of California (UC) announced a two-year agreement that will make it easier and more affordable for UC researchers to publish in the nonprofit open access publisher’s suite of journals.

The Research Literature Looks Too Good to Be True

The Research Literature Looks Too Good to Be True

Standard reports paint a much rosier picture of the research landscape than may be warranted. In this analysis, the first hypothesis of standard articles reported was supported by the data 96% of the time, while that rate was only 44% in registered reports.

Are Altmetrics Able to Measure Societal Impact in a Similar Way to Peer Review?

Are Altmetrics Able to Measure Societal Impact in a Similar Way to Peer Review?

Altmetrics have become an increasingly ubiquitous part of scholarly communication, although the value they indicate is contested. A recent study examined the relationship of peer review, altmetrics, and bibliometric analyses with societal and academic impact. Drawing on evidence from REF2014 submissions, it argues altmetrics may provide evidence for wider non-academic debates, but correlate poorly with peer review assessments of societal impact.

Access for Patients - and Other Ways to Get Elsevier Articles Without a Subscription

Access for Patients - and Other Ways to Get Elsevier Articles Without a Subscription

We're updating our list of free and low-cost article access programs, including patient/caregiver access. 

Learned Societies Turn Against Scholarship and Join Publishers for Profit

Learned Societies Turn Against Scholarship and Join Publishers for Profit

In a recent letter to the White House, a group of corporate publishers and scholarly organizations implore the president to leave intact…

Who Is Competing to Own Researcher Identity?

Who Is Competing to Own Researcher Identity?

The structural transition wrought by the internet continues to transform the journal-centric model of scholarly publishing into a researcher-centric model of scholarly communication. Success requires engagement with researcher identity, which is a struggle even for most of the largest publishing.

Predatory Journals: No Definition, No Defence

Predatory Journals: No Definition, No Defence

Leading scholars and publishers from ten countries have agreed a definition of predatory publishing that can protect scholarship. It took 12 hours of discussion, 18 questions and 3 rounds to reach.

UK Universities Reach New National Open Access Deal

UK Universities Reach New National Open Access Deal

Researchers from 180 UK universities can now benefit from a national open access deal agreed between Jisc Collections and Frontiers, the second largest fully open access publisher in the UK.