Academic publishing

Losses perceived for holistic views as communications modes show humanists embracing data-heavy styles of the hard sciences

Publishers need to examine their biases and universities their support mechanisms, say Avi Staiman, Marnie Jo Petray and Gaillynn Clements

PeerJ will give contributors ‘tokens’ to be redeemed against article processing charges

About one in 20 recent academic papers is a duplicate, with some articles being recycled as many as 27 times in different publications

Two separate studies, including one that looked at early Covid papers, suggest majority of alterations are minimal

Accurate reporting of results is important, but meaning is rarely distorted by orthographic or grammatical slips, says Adrian Furnham

Open access platforms are no substitute for peer-reviewed periodicals, says Maria Leptin

Rigorous ‘no deal’ planning paved way for significant concessions, says library head

Firms that sell co-authorship on papers accepted by reputable journals are likely turning over millions of pounds a year

World’s biggest digital library of Chinese journals under pressure over copyright infringement

MPs investigate role of journal publication in the early stages of the pandemic

Studying institutional success stories is socially useful and has nothing to do with selling out, say Matthew Flinders and Paul ’t Hart

Cathy Foley wants to extend access to scholarly journals beyond academia

More training, greater recognition and a wider geographical purview would help expand the reviewer pool, says Miriam Maus

The abolition of publishers and the bypassing of Big Tech is a prerequisite for maximising the power of science, says Andy Farnell

Close relationships between journal boards and most-published authors may explain speedy publishing times, says study

Scholar criticises lack of anonymised peer review at Law Quarterly Review

While progress has been hamstrung by lack of scale or regulatory force, advocates say the time has come

Major science organisation targets periodicals publishing too many papers or high proportion of brief articles

The crisis in peer reviewing can be overcome if journals and universities do more to incentivise it, say Dirk Lindebaum and Peter Jordan

UK universities could easily cope without Elsevier access for lengthy period, says Berkeley librarian who led system through two-year cut-off

Journals that are part of Cambridge University Press’ Research Directions ‘will better reflect the research lifecycle’ and interdisciplinary research

But study challenges idea that papers by colleagues of editors are of a lower quality

Publishing giant’s offer fails to meet goals of reducing costs and supporting rapid switch to open access, says sector

Editors need to grasp how much intelligence and bravery is needed to produce innovative ideas in certain contexts, says Alfredo González-Ruibal

Male reviewers more than twice as likely as females to voluntarily identify themselves, and signed reviews substantially less critical of authors, analysis finds

As refereeing requests multiply, the demands on willing academics’ time are becoming unsustainable, says Adrian Furnham

Peer review without transparency does not stave off potentially lethal misinformation, Open Access Week forum hears

Springer pact follows agreement with Cambridge University Press, as other big publishers prepare to follow suit

Prestigious scientific journals are charging vastly more than the costs they incur for each article published, claims contested study

Prestigious Sage robotics title pulls papers over concerns its peer review was ‘subverted’ by China-based academics

Country concerned about likes of Elsevier ‘seizing’ distribution of scientific output

Evolution of indexes closely tied to development of universities, says author, who outlines how they have been used for centuries to settle scholarly scores

Holden Thorp says Abet course rules hinder well-rounded strategies to fight major social burdens

But thousands of Australian researchers remain in limbo, with reviled rule still in force for grants under consideration

Jo Phoenix says researchers need a ‘decent database’ to get beyond ‘political mantras’

Only unrestricted access to journal articles’ version of record will fulfil the aims of the open access movement, says Carrie Webster

International survey of scholars finds women are more likely to feel aggrieved over decisions regarding author credit or ordering

Researchers in developing countries could be frozen out by high article charges unless wider publishing reform is undertaken, say four Brazilian researchers

Creator of ‘fast, free, fair’ platform hopes to help researchers shift away from journals and ‘increase meritocracy’

Sector relishing support for wider dissemination of scholarship but takes issue with some of the details

New guidelines have rightly rejected publisher claims that gold is the only sustainable path for open access, say Stephen Eglen and Rupert Gatti

Octopus breaks down traditional scientific outputs into smaller chunks which can then be linked to form ‘chains’ of broader work

Publishers criticise continued embrace of ‘green’ model alongside ‘gold’, but funder insists it has struck the right balance

Unanimous decision for York University lets lecturers keep sharing portions of published works with students

Agreement to waive author fees similar to one with Jisc, which together serve as model for future expansion

Funding body’s impending review should recognise sector’s clear preference for immediate open access, says Steven Inchcoombe

But journals’ open access fees are suddenly increasing researchers’ need for funding, says Adrian Furnham

Publishing a well-received paper could boost a scholar’s income by $13,500, says US study

Frustrated by rises in publishers’ article processing charges, the country wants to expand non-commercial journals instead

Funder’s policy lead on open access talks of ‘ring-fenced path’ to cover costs

Back-to-back publication reinforces findings, and preprints could facilitate it. So why are journals still so wary of it, asks Josh Hardy 

Australian university limits journals accepted for doctorates amid mounting concern among academics

Registered reports model produces better outcomes on all 19 criteria covering novelty, rigour, and importance

Many academics exhibit an appalling degree of exceptionalism and entitlement – and an inability to complete even basic tasks, says Kate Eichhorn

After criticism that it failed to declare Peter Daszak’s work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, journal has also ‘recused’ zoologist from its coronavirus origins taskforce

Proliferation of preprints in Covid era has led non-profit publisher to post reviews from clinicians on online papers

Male academics assessed more highly if they work at a top-ranked university but same bias does not materialise for female scholars

Recent examples explore everything from radical vaudeville to the legacy of slavery

Interviews with learned societies raise fears that independent imprints will be frozen out of publishing’s future