1. Why has submitting a manuscript to a journal become so difficult? A call to simplify an overly complicated process
It is widely acknowledged that submitting a paper to a journal is a fraught activity for authors. But why should this still be the case? In their post in The Impact Blog, James Hartley and Guillaume Cabanac argue that the process has always been complicated but can, with a few improvements, be less so. By adopting standardised templates and no longer insisting on articles being reformatted, the submission process can quickly be simplified.
The blog post says (quote): Authors should be able to submit manuscripts in any (appropriate) format. The Authorea and Overleaf platforms provide in-built templates for most journals. Editors and reviewers should consider any manuscript submitted in any (appropriate) format first before deciding whether or not to accept or reject it. Rejected articles can be revised and resubmitted to another journal without them first having to be reformatted. Reformatting is time consuming and wastes public funds. The text, tables, figures, footnotes and references of accepted articles can be formatted automatically according to the journal’s house style by applying automatic, pre-defined templates. Ideally, there should be three or four standard formats for journals that everyone can use, with trivial house-style requirements abolished. Finally, there should be an in-house factotum to deal with any enquiries............(Unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
2. Interpreting altmetrics
Lots of researchers like seeing and exploring the altmetrics for their work, but are not always sure what to take make of it, or what to do as a result of what they find. In her post in the Altmetric Blog, Cat William provides some pointers for interpreting the altmetrics, and what researchers can look to do as a next step.
The blog post says (quote): There are many ways that researchers can find altmetrics for their publications, and not necessarily just the metrics provided by Altmetric.com. Many publishers now include the Altmetric badges on their article pages, and others sometimes include information pulled from elsewhere, such as their own media or social monitoring service. Where you do see the Altmetric badges embedded on a page one can click on them to access the full record of attention - the Altmetric details page - so they can see not just how much your work was talked about, but who was doing the talking and what they were saying. Using the free Altmetric bookmarklet will also give access to these pages for items that have a DOI, or if the institution subscribes to the Altmetric Explorer one can explore all of the mentions for over 9 million outputs in one place!............(Unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
3. Be Choosy: Choose Library Books Based on Choice (Outstanding Academic Titles)
Librarians can rely on the annual Choice Outstanding Academic Titles list when selecting books. A post in the EBSCOpost Blog discusses how these titles are selected and made available from the GOBI® Choice Program.
The blog post says (quote): “Choice’s Outstanding Academic Titles list, appearing in print and online every January, is one of the most highly anticipated features they publish. Finalists are selected through a rigorous, year-long process that evaluates titles based on an exacting list of criteria that includes overall excellence in presentation and scholarship, importance relative to other literature in the field, and, when applicable, distinction as a first treatment of a subject in print or digital format. The prestige of making the list is amplified by the fact that only about 10 percent of the 6,000 titles Choice reviews each year are selected as Outstanding Titles.”............(Unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
4. Open access compliance: supporting Springer Nature authors
Springer Nature is committed to improving levels of OA compliance, and not only for those authors supported by the Wellcome Trust. By taking these steps we hope to reduce the burden of OA policy compliance for authors, and to assist funders and institutions in ensuring that the research they have supported is made openly accessible in the manner that they intended, discusses Jess Monaghan & Charlotte Coyte in their post in the BioMed Central Blog.
The blog post says (quote): Springer Nature also deposits all articles published via the gold OA route into the PubMed Central (PMC) repository, provided that the journal is in subject scope and has been accepted for indexing in PMC. By doing so they are helping the authors to meet the deposition requirements of many funders worldwide. Springer Nature also participates in the Jisc Publications Router, sending UK-authored OA articles and metadata to be deposited in the repositories of participating institutions, to help support compliance with HEFCE’s OA requirements for the next Research Excellence Framework (REF). At the moment they are sending UK authored content from the BioMed Central and Springer Open journals, and in future this will be available to all OA articles with UK authors............(Unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
5. PeerJ Membership Model and The Paradox Of The Loyal Customer
Pivoting away from individual memberships to sources of institutional funding, PeerJ has entered into a crowded market of low-cost megajournals. Phil Davis, in his post in the Scholarly Kitchen Blog, discusses if it would survive.
The blog post says (quote): More than a decade later, in 2012, PeerJ‘s individual lifetime membership model, where one could “pay once, publish for life” took the industry by surprise, not because their initial price (starting at $99) threatened to severely undercut its competitors, but because their business model was author facing. It also wasn’t clear how PeerJ was going to bring in additional revenue once an author purchased a lifetime membership. Unlike other loyalty business models, PeerJ‘s lifetime membership model costs the company money each time a satisfied customer decides to submit another manuscript. Provide better author services and they’ll keep coming back. On the face of it, their business model looks oddly self-defeating............(Unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
Leave a Reply