Academic publishing

With the veteran BBC presenter leaving the landmark Radio 4 show, some say the job should next go to one of a growing breed of academic broadcasters

Digital Science said its investigation showed how weaknesses in research and publishing systems can be systematically exploited

Disappointing offers which ‘miss financial reality’ faced by UK higher education have heightened speculation that institutions will ditch proposed deals

As an editor, I am receiving submissions from spurious authors consisting of previously published papers altered by AI. But why, asks Seongjin Hong

Melbourne book explores slow conversion from institution that ‘excluded and dehumanised’ Aborigines into one that ‘accelerated their inclusion and success’

When big publishers buy smaller publishers, they also acquire their book lists – but not always the relevant copyrights, says Harvey Graff

UK science academy adopts ‘subscribe to open’ model, with libraries being asked to back transition

Simpler ‘publish-as-a-service’ agreements in the frame as sector eyes ‘pivotal year’ for removal of research paywalls

Volume-driven publishing pushes up costs and threatens research integrity. We need new agreements with healthier incentives, says Anna Vernon

Amsterdam University Press series editors quit with open letter objecting to sale to for-profit publisher

Researcher who waited nearly two years for rejection claims ‘nonsensical’ criticisms of his paper must have been chatbot-generated

Our paper was rejected on the basis of reviewer comments that were vague, formulaic, often irrelevant and occasionally inaccurate, says Seongjin Hong

UK academia faces ‘pivotal moment’ as deadline approaches for cash-strapped universities to negotiate deals with leading publishers

In an era of complex challenges, single authorship is no longer the only marker of significant contributions, say Jeanne Féaux de la Croix, Roger Norum and Joanna Rostek

Champions of the free and unpaywalled model overlook the vast amount of unpaid academic labour that underpins such titles, says departing editor

If a paper is published open access, responses that point out its flaws should not be hidden from readers behind a paywall, says Andrew Barnas

As UK universities desperately seek savings, open science advocates must press both their moral and selfish cases, say Marcus Munafò and Neil Jacobs

Defunding of diversity-related research may deter American university libraries from buying titles in contentious topic areas, publishers fear

ScienceDirect innovation allows academics to interrogate articles and compare experiments

Rise of robot-written summaries should push publishers to articulate value and impact of research more clearly, argues Oxford University Press director

The recent arrest of accreditation council members only underlines that competence of regulation is as much of an issue as its degree, says Pushkar

Subscribing to nearly everything published by journals is no longer feasible in these financially straitened times but librarians can provide creative workarounds to ensure journal access, says Liam Bullingham

New partnership of Open Research Europe with national research funders could boost interest in the platform, experts say

Cuts to library budgets of up to 30 per cent have seen journal subscriptions cancelled and opening hours slashed, says librarians’ association

Editors’ failures to stick to advertised time frames and formatting requirements cost authors extra effort and stress, says Rob Sowby

Lack of cooperation from publishers blamed for failure of transparency service that many hoped could drive down prices

Librarians and negotiators insist embattled sector’s finances and technological innovations will help to achieve long-sought reductions in publisher costs

Highly cited scholars in medicine and life sciences also have papers pulled more often, says Stanford analysis

India-based periodical disciplined by bibliographic group Crossref after sleuths claimed ‘sneaked references’ had been injected into metadata

Provocative paper claims boycott of feminist title left early career scholars high and dry while others profited from ‘moral entrepreneurship’

Landmark deal should raise questions about publisher’s practices on peer review, citations and special issues, say research sleuths

The scientific record should reflect what actually happened, not a sanitised narrative that leaves out the messy bits, say Ivan Oransky and David B. Allison

Better tech alignment, industry guidance and identity verification would all help – as would meaningful and visible punishments, says Kim Eggleton

Decision to downgrade 271 journals on quality and operating model concerns sparks debate

Editors at Leiden Journal of International Law affirm commitment to Palestinian self-determination after uproar over contentious article

Higher ratings for AI-authored abstracts should not obscure the need for engaging prose with a ‘human touch’, says study co-author

One Nation One Subscription deal agreed with major academic publishers after five years of negotiations, but some believe academia is moving on

Publishers used to recognise that theirs was a relationships business. But now the road to immortality is much lonelier, says Adrian Furnham

But we must be sure to protect research and future subscription budgets, as well as building a sensible authentication system, says Cathy Foley

Forcing changes to the peer-review process would probably come with unforeseen and unwanted consequences, says Sheldon H. Jacobson

As pre-Wikipedia resource enters its 25th year, pioneers eye new applications as well as new languages

NWO initiative seeks to address concerns about sustainability of free to read, free to publish model

Tailored guidance, standards, tools and infrastructure are needed to make data more accessible and interoperable across the globe, says Daniel Keirs

In this age of widespread mis/disinformation, non-scientists need help to better grasp which claims bear rigorous scrutiny, says Gary Atkinson

Open access champions make ‘the perfect the enemy of the good’ by opposing chief scientist’s plan

Quantitative approach could help junior contributors ‘raise their voice’ and get due credit, researcher proposes

Publishers used to provide authors with better service – and royalties. But open access cooperatives offer a ray of light, says Harvey Graff

Allowing Big Tech to train AIs on academic output will only exacerbate the threat posed to teaching and research, says Martyn Hammersley

Even the ‘predatory’ label gives an undue level of legitimacy to operations that lack all the typical accoutrements of journals, says Steve Hochstadt

The British Museum learned it was wrong to brush off a whistleblower. Universities and journals should do the same, says David Sanders

Forcing UKRI-backed researchers to publish their papers as preprints would save £40 million annually and ‘accelerate scientific progress’, says thinktank

If the choice is between impact factor and maintaining the content’s integrity, there is little contest

Difficult conversations about how the REF’s post-2029 open access books mandate will be financed cannot be avoided, say experts

Rethink on Research Excellence Framework’s demand that submitted monographs should be freely available follows fierce condemnation of a policy described as ‘unaffordable’ and ‘excessively bureaucratic’

We need a mechanism whereby academics can build a public reputation as referees and receive career benefits for doing so, says Randy Robertson

Fed up with a lowly position on the author list? If so, getting creative with surnames could be the solution, a study suggests

Researchers claim that Taylor & Francis kept details of deal quiet, but company insists that citation and limits on verbatim quoting will be sacrosanct

‘There’s an assumption that if you pay for something, it is going to be better quality than if it’s free,’ says librarian involved in Hong Kong collaboration

Institute of Physics Publishing is making innovative efforts to broaden the referee pool beyond the usual suspects, says Laura Feetham-Walker

Extending embargoes and permitting more exceptions are likelier than a full U-turn, suggest academic publishing experts