Academic publishing

Academics fear global reach of new Singaporean legislation could result in censorship of international academic journals

Current remedies are not enough. Publishers, editors and referees must do more to eliminate lurking biases, say Melinda Duer and Athene Donald

First-of-its-kind study indicates at least one in three research-intensive institutions in North America lean on citation data in decisions on promotion and tenure

Confidence stalls, however, over depth of faculty commitment to open access

Peer review promised by India-based publisher often turned out to be cursory or non-existent, says Federal Trade Commission

YS Chi claims publisher’s shift to recognise research quality over quantity left a void that has been filled by others happy to publish insubstantial work

Survey finds that European institutions have open access policies in place – but far fewer have specific targets systems to check their progress

Implementing the mandate for open access monographs will be complex but that is the price of ‘being the leader’, says Cameron Neylon

But funders still need to create standardised data repositories for all fields, says Magdalena Skipper

London Book Fair hears claims European open access push may aid big publishers rather than reduce their power

Publisher expected to lose about €10 million a year, while Norwegian researchers face being unable to access new papers

Clarivate warns cost of article processing charges set to fall on funders

Open access advocates hope move will create ‘snowball effect’ for others to ditch subscriptions with publisher

The publisher has reported steady growth and profit margins of more than a third but warned of threat to business from open access

Australian and New Zealand open access advocates want more attention paid to ‘green’ model

Little sympathy among scheme’s architects for suggestion that embargoed dissemination should continue to be supported

Vice-chancellors are leading contract negotiations, allowing universities to make more demands on open access and costs

Publishers accuse institutions of piracy as revenues slump

University presses need to collaborate and think big in an uncertain marketplace, says UNSW executive

Springer Nature says highly selective titles need special treatment under European-led open access initiative

University presses should not produce popular books at the expense of academic ones, say scholars

If popular books trump scholarly monographs, what’s the point of academic publishers? asks John Ross 

Everyone appears to be behind open access, but scratch the surface and you’ll find that it’s something of a touchy subject in academia, says Rachael Pells 

Research agencies tight-lipped about global initiative, but are talking behind the scenes

Negotiations with Taylor & Francis collapse over cost as journal outages spread across Europe

The academy is not the military. Addressing fellow scholars by their surnames only is unnatural and disrespectful, says David Benatar 

Accusations of interference as Melbourne University Publishing focuses on scholarly works

Data on open access trends since 2000 show some countries embracing model have also boosted collaboration 

The advent of Plan S promises to turbocharge the open access movement, but amid pushback from researchers and publishers, Rachael Pells examines whether the demand for published research truly merits the disruption

Evidence of strong public demand for access to papers is scant. Might a sophisticated database of lay summaries be more valuable?

Board of Journal of Informetrics plans to launch a rival title

Duplicate titles are being set up to get around new open-access requirements, European Commission’s envoy warns

Country moves away from subscriptions and towards ‘publish and read’ model

Paper shortages and printer closures blamed for backlog

Cambridge University Press is latest firm to reveal that some of its titles have been blocked by the state

End of prestigious print publication after 103 years stirs debate over future of journal publishing in the digital age

BMC Biology’s ‘portable peer review’ policy aims to save editors and researchers time and effort, but academics question whether authors will want to share details of past rejections

Matthew Reisz reflects on a sobering year in academic books that was thankfully enlivened by stories of Barbie dolls, chimpanzees and sex under socialism

Organisation follows nearly 200 German research organisations in cutting ties with publishing giant

Critics of open-access initiative had warned of limits on collaborations and publishing choice if major regions stayed out

Work published by women is more widely read by undergraduate and master’s students and by junior researchers than articles written by men

System urges researchers to consider boycotting academic publisher as negotiations go to the wire

Study that suggested death toll from Hurricane Maria was much higher than thought leads this year’s Altmetric top 100

Peer review is lauded in principle as the guarantor of quality in academic publishing and grant distribution. But its practice is often loathed by those on the receiving end. Here, seven academics offer their tips on good refereeing, and reflect on how it may change in the years to come

Sharing every stage of scholarship on Octopus platform will allow funders to offer smaller, more regular grants, according to founder

Whether you approach an editor in person, over email or on the phone, make sure to tap into their passion for the subject, writes Nature’s Magdalena Skipper

Task force affirms support for green open access and says that poorer researchers should not miss out

Survey also reveals citations have little influence over the content of a paper, raising questions over citation metrics

Robert-Jan Smits attempts to allay concerns of junior academics considering moving country because of planned publishing shift

Academic at Thompson Rivers University was banned from campus after revealing his colleagues’ wide use of predatory journals

Emergence of lingua franca in science should not lead to other languages being neglected in teaching, conference hears

Which is the better option when it comes to running academic journals – the professional editor or the academic one? Rachael Pells analyses the pros and cons of each

A survey reveals readers’ opinions on whether professional editors or active researchers should be responsible for academic editing

If you want your manuscript to be accepted, pepper it with formulaic neologisms, irrelevant but impressive references and suitably indented vulgarity, advises Janelle Ward

Organisation joins Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in signing up to the Plan S open-access initiative

Plan S task force leader suggests developed nations could contribute towards article processing charges in poorer sectors

Members say professional organisations dependent on income from subscription-model journals face ‘existential’ threat from landmark open access policy

Open-access agreement’s founder says enthusiastic response has already increased ambition

New international publishing figures confirm China has overtaken US and leading European countries, ahead of schedule

Academia’s exacting standards on attribution are spot on. It is their inconsistent implementation that is the problem, says David Sanders