Academic publishing

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

Critics argue that The Lancet failed to disclose potential conflict of interest when dismissing the leak theory

Trailblazing initiative to transform hiring, promotion and performance review has been praised by open science advocates

With history books increasingly including first-person, ‘confessional’ elements, authors explain why they take this approach, while other historians reflect on the dangers

Podcast denying systemic racist attitudes in medicine seen as emblematic of leadership at top periodical

Wide support for cOAlition S’ rights retention strategy would allow negotiators to take a harder line with publishers, says Alice Gibson 

LSE’s iconic Economists’ Bookshop is latest casualty but scholars and booksellers insist the university bookstore still matters

Allowing faulty papers to go unchallenged damages integrity and threatens dangerous real-world consequences, says Peter Bowbrick

Historic learned society sets 75 per cent threshold for ‘flipping’ major titles

Analysis argues that science has a ‘critical problem’ because its self-correction process is slow and ineffective

Future citations of a journal paper drop by more than a third after being included in a review

David A. Sanders enjoys a vivid account of the many crafty ways academics steal the words of others

Be careful about what you give away in your excitement about signing a contract for a book, says Lennard Davis

The pandemic has curtailed urgent discussion of open access’ impact on scholarly societies, says Frank James

Initial data suggest a drop in published proceedings amid shift to virtual events

German study finds academics favouring Springer Nature and Wiley, with authors warning smaller publishers could be squeezed out

Covid-19 has prompted an explosion in preprints but has curtailed networking and underlined the extra pressures on women and junior academics. Simon Baker asks whether the pandemic era is a dark blip or a bright new dawn

Research is for public benefit. The UK’s next deal with Elsevier must accelerate the abolition of journal paywalls, says Paul Boyle

Four-year study into publisher responses uncovers delays of almost three years to investigations and ‘huge variance’ in action taken

The pandemic has exposed the limits that commercial models impose on libraries’ ability to facilitate access, says Gauthier Van Malderen

University system will keep paying publisher about $13 million (£9.4 million) a year

Academics’ desire to help the planet being ‘lost amid the realities of being a researcher’, survey concludes

Many university-owned periodicals are considering changing their business model, but report authors call for new funding strategy

Historic in-house press at Massachusetts Institute of Technology asking libraries for participant fee to enable titles to become publicly available

Data from study pinpoints first years after childbirth as biggest hit to women’s research productivity

Knock-backs are frequent and unavoidable. But treating referees’ comments with a hard-headed pragmatism lessens the sting, says Adrian Furnham

Controversial journal paper stirs debate on Asian wartime slavery

This isn’t the 18th century. Email and phones exist. So why is so much academic discussion still left to journals, asks Julian Baggini

Study says academics should highlight unreviewed papers’ uncertainty

Major scholarly publishers warn that some titles will become unviable unless open access scheme changes tack on compliance

Shocking lapses in scientific standards show why renewed scrutiny of existing literature and new anti-fraud measures are needed, says David A. Sanders

Percentage of papers with female authors rose markedly in latter part of 2020

National University of Singapore Press criticised over decision to scrap publication of title critical of country’s rulers

Strategy for institutional financing of open science follows California and UK models

Announcement of hefty article processing charges by prestige titles challenges goals of open access mandate

Thousands of PhD dissertations by Durham University available on Kindle services following mass scraping of online repository

Manuscripts by female authors enjoy more favourable treatment in many disciplines, according to analysis of 350,000 journal submissions

US-based academic publisher eager for digital expertise of London counterpart, but outsiders express concern about growing commercial control of scholarly communication

Ministry warns researchers against ‘degrading’ nation in pursuit of international journal publication

Authors express ‘deep regret’ after independent review finds conclusions of research are not supported  

Academics will have to pay up to £7,800 for free-to-read option

While eLife is planning to publish only preprints, even it concedes that journal brand still counts for a lot, notes Michael Marinetto

Proposal is first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region for the world’s largest academic publisher

Academics remain wedded to prestige indicators, but peer reviewers may conclude that the journal is profiteering, says Dorothy Bishop

Prestigious journal group seeks to spread cost of publishing across a greater number of authors than those accepted for publication

Academics justifiably express disbelief and outrage when librarians inform them that they can’t afford a particular title, says Caroline Ball

For a successful transition to open access, we must respect the needs and requirements for different types of output and disciplines, says Rhodri Jackson

As the pandemic reshapes both conferencing and publishing, melding talks and papers makes a lot of sense, says Richard Oliver

Covid is no reason to ease off on demands for open knowledge, Australian forum hears

Publishers warn that the pirate repository carries security risks, but critics say the threat is over-hyped to justify greater surveillance of researchers