Academic publishing

The holy grail of a business model for open access monographs that works at scale for publishers, libraries and scholars is close, says Martin Paul Eve

Multi-source analysis of global open-access practices throws up surprises, with Europe and the US lagging behind

Supporting pure open access publishers can save money and help cement the transition to full open access, says Helen Dobson

Gambling studies expert puts extraordinary output down to collaboration and hard work

Report from Web of Science owners says that universities may need to do more to monitor research integrity

Deal with Max Planck institutes puts cost of publishing article in prestigious journal at £8,600

Pushed by Covid, academic authors see rare need to offer political voice

Forensic analysis of citations within leading scientific periodicals reveals alarming lack of rigour in academic referencing

Three-year deal will allow researchers to publish papers without paying additional article-processing charges

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the biggest private US funder of biomedical research, seeks to push adoption of European-led standard

Editing is often assigned to doctoral students from very different fields – but substandard manuscripts may be accepted anyway, says Brian Bloch

‘I cannot express how incredibly uncontroversial it is to ask for money to perform skilled work,’ says James Heathers

Tougher action is needed to stop researchers dishonestly using spurious credits to bolster the credibility of their papers, says academic

Publications must always permit debate on the quality and relevance of research – plus the efficacy and costs of derived policy, says Robert Dingwall

Female deficit seen at medRxiv more than doubles in first months of pandemic

Findings of study could be reminder of the fragile nature of preprints in year when their use has expanded

Actions by publishers could contribute to Chinese students having more one-sided views, economist tells THE

Study provides further arguments against traditional academic publishing beyond cost and access, says author

Study finds economics PhD students who sought extra comments and seminar presentations published in higher impact journals   

Journal reputation also a factor but likely to have only a small bearing on rapid rise of APCs

Set up by young researchers, new publication will highlight where studies went wrong – but it may struggle to attract submissions

Australian analysis finds acronym use has multiplied tenfold in abstracts, with 94 per cent of 17,500 possible three-letter combinations used at least once

Universities say ‘big deals’ with publishers are only area where there is enough money to make significant savings during pandemic

Italian researchers behind much-criticised 2012 study request its withdrawal and apologise for ‘distress’ and ‘discontent’ caused

Publisher says investigation under way after academics call for retraction of ‘unscholarly’ paper by influential voice on US welfare reform

Plan S shift backed by European Commission will be ‘detrimental’ to researchers, says commission-created ERC

New intervention by the Copyright Licensing Agency may offer hope to universities struggling to access essential texts

Shakespeare, the Beatles and Tina Turner are often referenced in the titles of academic literature, study finds

Berkeley-directed outlet plans open peer reviews and cross-discipline focus

Two leading social scientists accused of producing racist scholarship say journals should rethink how they deal with such explosive allegations

Major data analysis of authorship patterns also finds gap is largest among youngest scholars 

Unequal childcare burden blamed for fall in share of published research by women since schools shut, but funding bodies look to alleviate career impact

We will need wisdom and common purpose to update multiple layers of norms, says Jinghai Li

Landmark US agreement is hailed as ‘significant milestone’ in shift to open access publishing in North America

Open access publication of PhD theses makes it difficult for studies to be published as books, says 93-year-old Shakespeare scholar

Using critical comments about a preprint, Bild launched a front-page attack on Christian Drosten. Scientists fear this will chill academic discussion of preliminary results

US-China research collaborations will continue despite politics, Harvard economist says 

World’s biggest academic publisher signs ‘global first’ open science agreement with Dutch universities and research councils

Scientists fighting for more publicly available research say changes made during Covid-19 crisis have influenced their efforts

McGraw-Hill and Cengage abandon union after government demands heavy culling

Stanford doctor warns extreme partisanship may taint future research

Publisher coalition also embracing assessments through preprint formats

If contributing to knowledge is the name of the game, what is wrong with description, asks Michael Marinetto

Rebuffed on pricing and open access, universities refuse full-access renewals

With insights from a variety of fields potentially useful in the fight against coronavirus, some French academics are arguing for more research and data to be made publicly available

Varying personal circumstances highlight the need for accommodations that outlive the coronavirus, says Phil Emmerson

Concerns raised over proposed UK open access rules that would require researchers to surrender copyright

Huge bill for journal access revealed as UK institutions begin strategy talks over Elsevier renewal deal

High APCs are a barrier to academics in low- and middle-income countries, says Coalition S

Four-year deal with Wiley hailed as ‘step-change’ moment in switch to open-access publishing

A recent posting on bioRxiv may have been erroneous, but the mistakes were picked up within hours, notes Kristen Sadler

Researchers must be prepared to share their raw data if their work is to be considered scientifically sound, says geneticist

After two years of study, US plans more consultations on bypassing journal paywalls

Goal is to help subscription-free pioneers survive as their idea gains wide adoption

Journal’s decision to publish reviewer reports shows a growing consensus on transparency, publishers claim

Proposals to mandate open access monographs from 2024 will make it harder to publish and will limit career chances, says professor

UKRI and other funders must prevent good intentions on open access from undermining good science, says Lee Cronin 

Proposals are likely to raise concerns over the future of longer-form academic publishing

German research institute aims to reshape academic incentives with cash bonuses

Former editors-in-chief at European Law Journal say the departure of editorial boards raises issue about ‘who owns’ scholarly journals