What does it mean that a nation is ‘Unscientific’?
(scienceblogs.com): An unscientific nation is one in which the government is not Reality Based. While it is unfortunate that countries are decision-makers on global policies, that is the reality right now and we need to work within a reality framework. There are also many other science-related policies that are not… Read More
The Unstoppable Corporate Force Meets the Immovable Social Network
(scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org): The general consensus is that the future of media lies in increased social participation and mobile access to that media. Yet events of the last few weeks have given signs that progress toward that future is not going to be smooth. We’re seeing more conflicts between companies that need… Read More
National Academies: data and method should be public
(Open access news): Advances in knowledge depend on the open flow of information. Only if data and research results are shared can other researchers check the accuracy of the data, verify analyses and conclusions, and build on previous work. Furthermore, openness enables the results of research to be incorporated into… Read More
Informa needs £1.5bn for Springer bid
(Thisismoney.co): Publishing giant Informa will need to raise as much as £1.5bn to secure a takeover of German academic journals group Springer. The Lloyd's List publisher revealed that it has entered bid talks with its debt-laden rival, which was put up for sale by its private equity owners Candover and… Read More
How well-indexed are OA business journals?
(southernlibrarianship.icaap.org): In order for the increasing number of open access business journals to achieve credibility and flourish in the academic and professional environments it is not enough for them to simply be published and freely available on the Internet. Researchers need a means to be able to systematically search across… Read More
Justification and Draft Principles for an Open Law Journals Group
(law.ed.ac.uk): While the number and variety of academic journals are increasing, the number of influential stakeholders in the field of academic publishing is decreasing. It is believed that in this environment, simultaneously crowded and restricting, the role and value of open access online publishing is being marginalised. Given this concern,… Read More
The All-Digital Library? Not Quite Yet
(chronicle.com): Don't de-accession those print materials yet. The digital research library is not quite ready for prime time, according to Lisa Spiro, director of the Digital Media Center at Rice University, and Geneva Henry, executive diretor of Rice's Center for Digital Scholarship. To find out, Ms. Spiro and Ms. Henry… Read More
2010 a Lose-Lose-Lose Year for Buying, Selling Content, Says Outsell
(outsellinc.com): A widening gap between the price of information and buyers’ ability to pay will make 2010 a lose-lose-lose year for content buyers, sellers, and users, according to new research from Outsell, Inc. Information managers expect an aggregate six percent increase in the cost of their information portfolios, while their… Read More
French information industry calls for caution on OA
(gfii.asso.fr): The GFII Working Group includes representatives from the main economic stakeholders involved in Open Access: research institutes, publishers, aggregators, internet services, subscription agents, academic libraries, etc. This statement summarizes the Group recommendations. The Group would like to first stress the need for a discipline sensitive approach to open access.… Read More
2010 Content Technology Predictions
(cmswatch.com): With only a few weeks left in 2009, it's time for the team of CMS Watch analysts to reveal their 2010 predictions, where they make there best guesses as to what the Content Technology industry will hold for you in the new year. On a whole, 2010 will be… Read More
