Typos in ebooks – It isnt getting better
(ebookanoid.com): In spite of the fact that ebooks now represent a very serious proportion of all book sales all over the world, publishers still seem to think that ebooks are the poor cousin of “real” paper books, and apparently feel that it is enough to simply scan their paper books… Read More
Peer-review in science ‘can be improved’, MPs report
(bbc.co.uk): MPs have recommended improvements to the way scientific papers are checked before they are published. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report said this "peer-review" process of science journals should be more transparent.. Read More
Competing with Free: eBooks vs. eBooks
(the-digital-reader.com): The salvation for the traditional publisher has to be quality when it can’t compete on price. Consequently, more attention needs to be paid to initial quality and to gaining a reputation for that quality. Unfortunately for traditional publishers, an increasing number of self-publishers are realising that the quality problem… Read More
Scientific fraud in the UK: The time has come for regulation
(guardian.co.uk): Reading group members nationwide are increasingly choosing e-books and e-readers over traditional print books, according to a survey by Reading Group Choices (RGC). The survey shows that 25% of reading group members are using e-books, up 10 percentage points from 2009. Read More
Why the iPad Won’t Transform Education — Yet
(mashable.com): Apple’s announcement on Thursday that it would be introducing a new iPad textbook experience and iBooks authoring tool presents huge opportunities for technology in classrooms. The company is selling textbooks from McGraw-Hill, Pearson and Houghton Mifflin at a price comparable to print versions. But Apple has a long way… Read More
Who Owns Government-Funded Research Papers?
(miller-mccune.com): The Research Works Act would prevent publicly funded research from automatically being available to the public for free. Private publishers back the bill, while open-access partisans are appalled. Read More
Online public debate about research is thriving, but we need to stay alert to the dangers of simplification
Summarising a recent session on new trends in disseminating economics research, Diane Coyle looks at how researchers are influencing policy. The landscape of public debate has changed enormously, and blogs in particular have come to play a highly influential role. But responsibility must be taken for how public debate influences… Read More
Evaluating Big Deal Journal Bundles
Bundled journal access agreements between journal publishers and research institutions display variability in pricing that cannot be explained by institution characteristics alone, according to a study. Although some publishers and libraries hold the details of such agreements confidential, Theodore C. Bergstrom and colleagues used Freedom of Information Act requests to… Read More
How Big Data Can Help Fix Medical Research
A recent paper in the British Medical Journal suggests that evidence-based medicine is in crisis. Evidence-based medicine is based on the practice of employing treatments that have scientific research that backs up their effectiveness. It is usually set against medical practice that is based on anecdotal experience or simply doing… Read More
Journal hijackers target science and open access
Academic researchers need to publish the results of their research in scientific journals to be able to graduate or to advance their careers. The first systematic misconduct and deviation from the generally-accepted good practices for publishing scientific journals began in the early 2000s when some commercial journals began to misuse… Read More
