The Scholarly Kitchen
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Developing the Infrastructure for Direct Marketing
In order for publishers to engage in direct marketing, they have to build new infrastructure. Simon & Schuster is hinting at new developments with its use of QR codes. Continue reading
Today's Specials and Featured Items
A fluidic computer designed to model a national economy holds lessons for doing things directly and physically. Sometimes, you have to get your hands wet. Continue reading
Science policy is often guided by poorly-constructed and highly biased survey results. Shouldn’t we demand more? Continue reading
An essay on the Beatles and their business model, which emphasized paid content, now called “toll-access” content. The question is how the Beatles would have been different if they had worked in an era where content was expected to be free. Continue reading
Fifty-one journals are suspended from the Journal Citation Report for “anomalous citation patterns.” Whether or not you agree with the impact factor, sanctions help maintain the integrity of the scientific publishing enterprise for everyone. Continue reading
Consent and confidentiality concerns around “Big Data” in medicine should give enthusiasts for a data-rich scientific world pause. Things are more complex, and the answers so far are inadequate. Continue reading
The participants in the recent SSP session debating the value of publishers reflect on the session, the audience interactions, and their talks. And, of course, the Romans. Continue reading
The brouhaha at the University of Virginia raises key questions for everyone in the scholarly communications world — about whether we can exert control, or only respond to change. Continue reading
With the world changing radically, associations are struggling to attract and retain members, offer satisfying programs, remain financially efficient, and look into the future. A new book provides a lot of sound advice in very little space. Continue reading
PeerJ is bringing something new to scholarly publishing, but it’s not a business model or a technology approach — it’s a mindset. Continue reading
The details of PeerJ’s business model raise many questions, some of which may pertain to inherent Silicon Valley ways of doing business, others to efforts to create a community of required activity. Continue reading
The idea that digital goods have no ongoing cost and can therefore be free has several problems, the basic one being reality itself. Continue reading
How have publishers changed over the past decade? What have been the most important advances? The Chefs tackle the question, with some surprising answers (they might have even surprised themselves). Continue reading
Musicians have learned that the new corporate powers — technology companies — are possibly worse than the old corporate powers — record companies. How well would technology companies treat academics? Continue reading
An exchange at the recent SSP Annual Meeting put the concept of “everyone’s a publisher” into stark contrast with reality. We’re not publishers. We’re unpaid writers for publishers like Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress. Continue reading
The Big Deal has emerged because it had to. Where do we go from here? The answer isn’t clear. Continue reading
The culture of cheap has consequences, often expensive ones. Our culture of austerity economics has embraced it, to disastrous effect. Should scholarly publishing be on guard? Continue reading
Is there a new form of conflict of interest in the world: BioMed Central’s corporate sponsorship of author fees? Continue reading
A PLoS ONE article recently went viral, hitting the front page of Reddit and garnering an amazing amount of reader interest. This was great news for the journal and the paper’s authors, but raises questions for the notion of post-publication peer review. As Kent Anderson recently discussed, the idea of post-publication peer review is nothing … Continue reading
In my previous posting, I focused on what I believe to be dim prospects for the Encyclopedia Britannica as it transforms from a set of printed volumes into a networked online information portal. My skepticism stems from the fact that although the EB claims to offer “the breadth of the world’s knowledge,” its coverage of … Continue reading
A new book on the economics shaping science is a treasure trove of facts arranged sensibly and put wonderfully into context. In addition, it’s an example of how to design a print book. Continue reading
A profile of predatory author-pays OA publishers pulls a punch or two, but reveals that all models have extremes. What we do to make these extremes truly marginal and unacceptable is a larger question. Continue reading
Fewer than half of NIH sponsored clinical trials are published within 30 months, and 4 out of 5 FDA trials fail to publicly register results (as mandated by law), studies published in the BMJ report. Authors and sponsors may be the strongest source of reporting bias. Continue reading
Over the past three decades, the research library has been receiving a smaller proportion of the university budget. Does this trend reflect the failure of library administrators and the declining relevance of libraries? Or does it tell the story of self-control and growing efficiency against a backdrop of spiraling higher education costs? Continue reading
Authors
Kent Anderson
Phil Davis
Stewart Wills
Joseph Esposito
Ann Michael
David Crotty
Michael Clarke
Rick Anderson
David Smith
David Wojick
Tim Vines
Todd A Carpenter
Alice Meadows
The mission of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) is "[t]o advance scholarly publishing and communication, and the professional development of its members through education, collaboration, and networking." SSP established The Scholarly Kitchen blog in February 2008 to keep SSP members and interested parties aware of new developments in publishing.
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The Scholarly Kitchen is a moderated and independent blog. Opinions on The Scholarly Kitchen are those of the authors. They are not necessarily those held by the Society for Scholarly Publishing nor by their respective employers.
Authors
The mission of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) is "[t]o advance scholarly publishing and communication, and the professional development of its members through education, collaboration, and networking." SSP established The Scholarly Kitchen blog in February 2008 to keep SSP members and interested parties aware of new developments in publishing.
......................................
The Scholarly Kitchen is a moderated and independent blog. Opinions on The Scholarly Kitchen are those of the authors. They are not necessarily those held by the Society for Scholarly Publishing nor by their respective employers.
