Online Social Network Seeks to Overhaul Peer Review in Scientific Publishing
(sciencemag.org): The current peer review system in which journal editors send potentially publishable manuscripts to experts for review is hotly debated. Many scientists complain that the system is slow, inefficient, of variable quality, and prone to favoritism. Moreover, there's growing resentment in some quarters about being asked to take valuable… Read More
The Web Could Transform Science (If Allowed to Do So)
(internetevolution.com): While the Internet waits to see whether SOPA and PIPA are dead or just sleeping, a similar struggle is going on for access to scientific research. The Web offers the possibility of great leaps in scientific progress through collaboration and open access. But even though the technology revolution continues… Read More
Open data consultation finds widespread privacy fears
(information-age.com): Some respondents identified new areas where open data would be useful. Network equipment vendor Cisco wrote that the 'Internet of things' will become a primary generator of information that should be considered open data. The ever-increasing ability to analyse so-called ‘Big Data’ means that datasets of previously perceived low… Read More
Has Social Media Made Search-Driven Publishing Less Relevant?
(adweek.com): The growing importance of social media, coupled with the powerful wrath of Google, have shaken the once-hot world of cheap search-driven publishing. About.com recently dumped its CEO. Yahoo’s $100 million acquisition of Associated Content (now Yahoo Voices) has yielded a network of 700,000 freelancers who produce secondary content on… Read More
Is bundling ebooks with print books a good idea?
(mhpbooks.com): Is bundling — selling a print book together with its digital version for one price — a good idea? Is it, indeed, an idea whose time has come? Digital would cease to be a threat, and instead it would be a shot in the arm for the traditional physical… Read More
Is the Open Science Revolution For Real?
(wired.com): The researcher rebellion against the closed research-and-publishing system, tallied most explicitly in a petition boycotting publisher Elsevier, continues to expand. (The Economist covers it here, and I covered the complaints last year in a feature.) The big question, of course, is whether this noisy riot will engender something like… Read More
Open equation, but perhaps it is ‘unintelligible’
(timeshighereducation.co.uk): The future of open access to academic work was high on the agenda as researchers and leading scientific publishers came face to face at a debate in Oxford. The Scientific Evolution: Open Science and the Future of Publishing, held on 29 February, took place in the aftermath of the… Read More
Xenophobic scientific publishers: open access aids foreign enemies
(michaeleisen.org): The American Association of Publishers and the anti-open access DC Principles group have sent letters to both houses of Congress outlining why they oppose the Federal Research Public Access Act, which would make the results of all federally funded research publicly available. They largely trot out the same tired… Read More
The same challenge facing ebooks and apps
(guardian.co.uk): Is bundling — Ebook publishing is often linked to value depletion for the entire food chain. Ebooks obey the other digital law: low price, high volumes. In this case, extremely low prices. But evidence shows professional authors can find their way in the new world. Read More
Libraries adapt, change with advances in technology
(kccommunitynews.com): The evolution of technology does not mean the extinction of libraries. Patrons want our help with purchase recommendations for the popular eReaders, using the gadgets (straight out of the box), and accessing free books. They have their eReaders and now want their eLibraries. Read More
