Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, There’s two weeks’ worth of news to catch up on, as I was on vacation with my family over Easter. So I’ve adopted the same format as the previous issue, primarily to make this newsletter as concise as possible. As before, the text that follows has been pasted from news sources and is not my own. I’ve mixed in a few opinion pieces that I enjoyed and grouped similar topics (research integrity, AI etc.) together. But first, I hope you’ll...
10 days ago • 12 min read
Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, This week’s newsletter is presented in a slightly different format. I’ve been very busy with work and personal commitments and haven’t had the time to do a ’normal’ newsletter. What follows are the title and a brief excerpt from some of the stories that I’ve read over the past few weeks. None of the text was written by me. Hopefully it will help you to get a quick overview of what’s happened in scholarly publishing recently. News Update...
23 days ago • 8 min read
Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, Last week I linked through to an article by Eric Helman entitled AI bots are destroying Open Access. Ian Mulvany, who leads the technology team at the BMJ, included this quote from one his colleagues in a recent blog post: Unfortunately, bot traffic on our journal websites has now surpassed real user traffic. These aggressive bots are attempting to crawl entire websites within a short period, overloading our web servers and negatively...
about 1 month ago • 12 min read
Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, You may have noticed that I’ve retired the Opinion section in this newsletter. There are a number of reasons for this. First, most people are more interested in news than opinion, judging from the click-through rates. Second, the newsletter was getting unwieldy. Third, reading tens of opinions articles every week became a bit too much for me personally. With that piece of housekeeping out of the way, here’s a summary of what’s happened in...
about 2 months ago • 17 min read
Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, Last year we learned that two of the largest journals — Heliyon (Cell Press / Elsevier) and Cureus (Springer Nature) had been put ’on hold’ by Web of Science. I asked Clarivate for an update on when a decision would be made and received this reply: Details of specific evaluations are confidential. Timelines for re-evaluations are dependent upon the nature and complexity of the case, questions we may have for the publisher, and the extent...
about 2 months ago • 14 min read
Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, Two weeks have passed since the last issue of this newsletter. Family life has needed to take priority over writing Journalology. Hopefully you’ve been busy with life outside work, too, and this week’s issue will help you to catch up. The scholarly publishing environment is changing fast. Even the most seasoned publisher can benefit from independent advice. I can help you to build a successful portfolio strategy and thrive in an open...
about 2 months ago • 17 min read
Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, This week’s newsletter starts with a section devoted to US news and opinion, focusing mostly on stories that directly (rather than indirectly) affect our industry. Research Output Trends Over the Past 25 Years On Tuesday I sent you a video that explored how research publishing has changed over the past 25 years. Click the image below to watch it on YouTube. US news and opinion Declaration To Defend Research Against U.S. Government...
2 months ago • 17 min read
Hello fellow journalologists, The volume of published research articles has grown rapidly over the past 25 years. I’ve been investigating what might have caused the increase and today I want to share my findings with you, in the form of a video. The video is split into two halves. The first section (22 minutes viewing time) talks you through the impact on article volumes of (1) Covid, (2) the rise of China, (3) the transition to open access, and (4) the possible effect of paper mills. I also...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, This week’s scholarly publishing news has been dominated by one topic. I've attempted to summarise some of the key news stories and opinions related to the new US administration’s edicts, as they relate to academic journals. The past few weeks have been disorientating and confusing. Soon the smoke will lift and we will have a clearer view of the challenges that are facing us. Cool heads are needed. So is solidarity. Our industry is based...
3 months ago • 16 min read