The nonsensical computer-generated articles, spotted years after the problem was first seen, could lead to a wave of retractions. (27 May 2021) Nonsensical research papers generated by a computer program are still popping up in the scientific literature many years after the problem was first seen, a study has revealed. Some publishers have told Nature they will…
(11 May 2021) In a survey conducted by the United Kingdom’s Emerald Publishing, researchers say they’re not satisfied with how academic publishing presents their work to a world that needs to understand it. It’s hard to think of a time in recent memory when so many have questioned so much scientific research. Almost any…
(14 Apr 2021) On the last day of 2020, the Chinese Academy of Sciences issued the first Early Warning List of International Journals. While it includes just 65 journals, the list disproportionately targets journals that are fully open access (OA) and attract a high volume of Chinese content in absolute or relative terms, notably IEEE Access, several…
(24 Mar 2021) Jisc, the not for profit for research and education, is launching a toolkit that will help new university presses to find sustainable ways to publish open access. Funder policies surrounding open access have led to a revival in university presses in the UK and overseas. A 2017 report found that in the past five years,…
(5 Nov 2020) COVID-19 has transformed academic publishing, for books and journals. In this post Min Pun, shares his experiences as editor of two journals in Nepal. He outlines some of the opportunities posed by COVID-19, including the increased demand for research. However, there are also multiple barriers to the production and dissemination of knowledge…
(21 Oct 2020) The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the already steady transition towards Open Access publishing. However, precisely what this future looks like and how it will be paid for by smaller, independent publishers is less clear. In this post, Danielle Padula outlines key findings from a report into the current state of Open Access…
(4 Aug 2020) From Scholarly Kitchen: “The COVID pandemic has given us a clear view of the value of open science, yet has also created conditions where implementing open science may not be feasible. We know that the transition to OA was likely to be financially disruptive, even under good market conditions, but now in…
(28 Jul 2020) 2019 saw the invoiced value of combined UK publisher sales of academic and professional books and journals rise by 1.3%, to nearly £3.3bn – 25.8% higher than in 2015. Digital is driving this growth in academic publishing, with a 4.2% rise in digital sales revenue in 2019 slightly outweighing a 4.6% print sales…
(4 Jun 2020) Digital Science has today released a report highlighting the global research landscape trends and cultural changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report How COVID-19 is Changing Research Culture analyses publication trends, regional focal points of research, collaboration patterns, and top institutional producers of research in COVID-19. The report key findings include: As of…
(22 May 2020) Nature Index reviewed recent development on scholarly communication affected by the epidemic of COVID-19, including: Funding worries weigh down early-career researchers COVID-19 widens the gender gap in medical research Wikipedia favours peer-reviewed research Australian researchers face job cuts due to coronavirus shut-down How could coronavirus change academic careers? Preprint servers enhance screening…