Publishing Landscape Research Articles

Redesigning Scholarly Communications Workflows and Work Habits for the Digital Age: The Greenhouse Studios Proposal

Greenhouse Studios | Scholarly Communications Design at UConn is a shared venture of the School of Fine Arts, UConn Library, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Connecticut. Backed by long-term university investments of staff and space, Greenhouse Studios aims to institute on its university’s campus, and share with others involved in academic publishing, a workflow and work culture suited to the creation of multimodal scholarly communications. This article summarizes the research, undertaken with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, that informed the development of a design-based, inquiry-driven, collaboration-first model of scholarly production that places continuous, close, and equitable scholarly communications labour at the heart of its mission. The model draws together divided workflows and flattens counter-productive hierarchies that, as vestiges of print-only traditions, impede fuller realization of the possibilities offered by the diverse range of digital and hybrid forms that increasingly define the publishing landscape.

Where do we aspire to publish? A position paper on scientific communication in biochemistry and molecular biology.

The scientific publication landscape is changing quickly, with an enormous increase in options and models. Articles can be published in a complex variety of journals that differ in their presentation format (online-only or in-print), editorial organizations that maintain them (commercial and/or society-based), editorial handling (academic or professional editors), editorial board composition (academic or professional), payment options to cover editorial costs (open access or pay-to-read), indexation, visibility, branding, and other aspects. Additionally, online submissions of non-revised versions of manuscripts prior to seeking publication in a peer-reviewed journal (a practice known as pre-printing) are a growing trend in biological sciences. In this changing landscape, researchers in biochemistry and molecular biology must re-think their priorities in terms of scientific output dissemination. The evaluation processes and institutional funding for scientific publications should also be revised accordingly. This article presents the results of discussions within the Department of Biochemistry, University of São Paulo, on this subject.

Writing the future of biogeography

Scientific publishing has seen many changes in its ~350 years of existence. Nonetheless, the changes currently underway may be among the most radical. The five major biogeography journals (Diversity and Distributions, Ecography, Frontiers of Biogeography, Global Ecology and Biogeography, and Journal of Biogeography) are indicative of the major undercurrents in publishing today: two are society owned, three are owned by a private publisher; two are open access, three are reader-pays; four are published by a for‐profit publisher, one is not; three are double-blind review, two are the traditional single blind. Despite these differences, we serve as editors-in-chief for these journals for one common reason: to make sure there is a healthy publishing ecosystem available to communicate biogeographical research. With that goal in mind, here, we provide a brief potted history of scientific publishing to contextualize the modern publishing environment. We consider what current trends may mean for the future of scientific publishing. And we highlight a suite of factors that we recommend be considered when choosing a venue in which to publish your research. We particularly wish to emphasize one point: while editors-in-chief may guide journals, and editors and reviewers shape the science that is published, all journals depend ultimately on the manuscripts that authors choose to submit. For this reason, authors have great power over the future of the publishing landscape. To ensure a healthy landscape, we feel it is critical that all authors—but especially we senior and mid-career authors—are educated about today’s complex world of publication and make informed choices about where to submit, which signals to publishers the criteria that our community values. Authors’ choices now have potential to shape a sustainable publishing environment that better serves current and future generations of biogeographers.

Mažos ir vidutinės knygų leidyklos šiuolaikinėje Lietuvos knygų leidybos struktūroje

[full article and abstract in Lithuanian; abstract in English] The article was prepared taking into account the false conclusions about the current situation of book publishing in Lithuania, in particular, the activities of small and medium sized publishers. The aim of the article was to select small and medium publishers and to identify the specificity of their activities in contemporary Lithuanian book publishing. This goal implies several objectives: 1. To define what is included in the composition of small and medium-sized publishers and to carry out their statistical analysis in various sections; 2. To analyze the relationship between small and medium-sized publishers with the state; 3. To analyze the influence of the book distribution situation on the activities of small and medium-sized publishers; 4. Find out whether IT development provides new opportunities for small and medium-sized publishers. On the basis of scarce research, media publications, various statistical sources as well as the author’s personal observations of the book publishing situation and networking with the publishers, it has been determined that there are more than 100 book publishers today in Lithuania, of which about 90 are small and medium-sized. An analysis of the existence of a publishing support system in Lithuania has shown that small and medium-size publishers cannot rely on it for their survival and activities because the support system does not take into account the specificity of publishing as a cultural activity and business. A major obstacle to the activities of small and medium-sized publishers is the monopoly on book trading system in Lithuania. Such a system gave rise to unfair competition. As a result, small and medium-sized publishers have to increasingly focus on direct distribution and adjust their publishing plans accordingly. Furthermore, the development of digital book publishing in Lithuania has not justified previous forecasts and failed to become a source of additional revenue for small and medium-sized publishers. Small and medium-sized publishers experience constant instability, they are challenged by the factors they cannot change such as market size, emigration and reduced purchasing power of people. Even though certain challenges are believed to be manageable, no positive changes to improve the publishers’ situation have been introduced so far, such as a clear approach to publishing from the state, improved system of support and a regulation of the monopolized book distribution market. However, small and medium-sized publishers still are and will remain part and parcel of the Lithuanian book publishing landscape. The publishers who exit the market are replaced by new entrants into publishing business, therefore their activities should be evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively.

The State of Feature Writing Today

This commentary considers the changing nature of feature writing within the contexts of: multimedia tools, the online publishing landscape, shrinking newsrooms, changing revenue models, freelance markets, audience and story analytics and journalism education.

Challenge of Ukrainian academic librarians in an evolving scholarly publishing landscape

Faced with a prolonged economic crisis, Ukrainian research institutes are under pressure as a direct result of limited funding. This has also had a direct negative impact on the functionality of librarians who have seen increasing limitations to acquisitions. Despite economic difficulties, Ukrainian academic librarians are trying to offer their end-users specialized services that involve active librarian mediation in the preparation and dissemination of the results of these users' scientific work. One notable function is to offer aid to users on how to detect pseudo-scientific journals. In this paper, based on a survey of librarians from leading Ukrainian universities, we studied for the first time, the main information resources and tools used by Ukrainian experts to test the validity of scientific journals so that they may be recommended to library users as reliable channels for disseminating research results. These are tools and resources include Scopus, Web of Science, Beall's blacklists, the DOAJ, Think. Check. Submit., and the Norwegian Register. We describe the benefits and limitations that Ukrainian academic librarians may encounter when each of these resources is used. Modern reformation to Ukrainian science has opened up new opportunities for Ukrainian academic librarians. As a result, if they are able to successfully implement such services, they can regain a prominent place in the scientific life of institutions and on the global academic platform.

Peer Review: A Vital Gatekeeping Function and Obligation of Professional Scholarly Practice

The author argues for the centrality of peer review in assessing the scholarly merits of manuscripts, given considerable changes in the publication landscape that present formidable challenges for editors to solicit qualified reviewers, and seeks to convince reluctant senior faculty and scholarly practitioners to review manuscripts in their areas of expertise, contending in effect that we have a professional obligation to do so.

Harnessing the Power of Green Open Access: Implementing the ‘Taverne’ law in the Dutch Academy

Watch the VIDEO.In 2015 the Dutch parliament passed an amendment to the national copyright laws that – at least in theory – significantly expanded the scope for publishing in green open access. Known for its main sponsor, Joost Taverne, this amendment grants the author of any ‘short work of science’ that has been ‘funded by the Dutch government’ a legal right to make this work ‘freely available to the public’, following ‘a reasonable term’ after its original publication. Crucially, the author retains this right regardless of the terms and conditions of the original publisher. Although this amendment has been in force for over three years, it has not had much practical effect to date. On the one hand this is due to competing institutional priorities at that time and on the other hand because the amendment’s terms are too vague to be of much use to individual researchers.In order to harness the potential of the law, the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) and the National Platform Open Science have launched a project that aims to:Establish clear and concrete guidelines for interpreting the amendment;Make roughly 5% of all academic output in the Netherlands that falls within these guidelines freely available through university repositories;Test the response of publishers to the implementation of the amendment;Establish jurisprudence in case publishers decide to take legal action against either the universities or individual scholars; andUltimately accelerate a broader shift toward universal and affordable gold open access as the default standard in academic publishing.Ultimately this project thus seeks to use the power of green open access not for its own sake, but as a wedge to encourage publishers to make the transition to an efficient and affordable Gold Open Access model. Meanwhile it offers a workable alternative to researchers who encounter obstacles to publishing gold.This presentation will discuss the unique opportunities this amendment provides to radically change the publishing landscape, as well as the legal, technical and organizational challenges involved in practically implementing the amendment’s potential, based on the (ongoing) experience of the VU University’s local project team. Hopefully this will spark a discussion on the international implications and possible opportunities to develop similar initiatives in different national – and thus legal – contexts. At the same time international input and experiences can help further refine and improve the project.

Predatory Publishing in Orthopaedic Research.

The open-access model has changed the landscape of academic publishing over the last 20 years. An unfortunate consequence has been the advent of predatory publishing, which exploits the open-access model for monetary gain by collecting publishing fees from authors under the pretense of being a legitimate publication while providing little-to-no peer review. This study aims to investigate the predatory publishing phenomenon in orthopaedic literature. We searched Beall's List of Predatory Journals and Publishers and another list of predatory journals for journal titles that are possibly related to orthopaedics. We then searched their web sites for the following information: total number of articles published, journal country of origin, author country of origin, article processing charge (APC), quoted review time, and location of the listed headquarters. We also reported the article quality of a random sample of these journals. We consulted InCites Journal Citation Reports to determine the number of nonpredatory orthopaedic publications that are indexed, and we manually searched a random sample of these legitimate journals for Beall's criteria. Additionally, we searched the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and PubMed databases for any possible predatory journal titles. We found 104 suspected predatory publishers, representing 225 possible predatory journals. One journal was indexed in the DOAJ, and 20 were indexed in PubMed. Review time was not identified for 56.2% of the journals, and 36.5% quoted a review time of <1 month. Nearly half of the listed addresses of the publishers were either unsearchable or led to residential or empty lots. Eighty-two legitimate journals were identified. The median APC was $420 for predatory journals and $2,900 for legitimate journals. We found that a random sample of the legitimate journals published studies with higher reporting standards, but a few also contained 1 criterion that is found on Beall's list. This study highlights the scope of orthopaedic predatory publishing. Possibly predatory journals outnumber legitimate orthopaedic journals. Orthopaedic surgeons should be aware of the suspected predatory journals and consult available online tools to identify them because distinguishing them from legitimate journals can be a challenge.

Open data and the publishing landscape

Open data and the publishing landscape

Scientific publishing: a developmental role for the World Psychiatric Association

Scientific publishing: a developmental role for the World Psychiatric Association

Why speculate – the current state of ‘spec-fic’ publishing

This collaborative paper explores how the ‘spec-fic’ category may be responding to contemporary political and environmental challenges. It presents two case studies, in the personal writing and professional publishing experiences of authors Rose Michael and Cat Sparks, to consider the ways speculative fiction engages with real-world concerns. The paper acknowledges the genre’s contested relationship to harder-to-categorise cross-genre or interstitial forms of non-realist fiction, as well as its obvious antecedents in science fiction and its arguable overlap with ‘big L’ literature. As creative practitioners and published authors who dis/identify with generic labels in different ways, the authors contend that the use, misuse, and abuse of genre conventions has been, and continues to be, personally and professionally productive – particularly in a contemporary publishing landscape impacted by changes to technology and platforms that have transformed traditional relationships and roles.

Dear readers of the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology and ECI 2018 attendees

The Scandinavian Journal of Immunology has established itself over the last 45 years as one of the leading journals in the immunology field, through the publication of high-quality original research papers and reviews reflecting the developments in our discipline. The total circulation of the journal is now over 15 000. Nearly 7 700 institutions in the developing world also enjoy free or very low rate paid access to Scandinavian Journal of Immunology through various philanthropic initiatives (INTAS, INASP, Research4Life [HINARI-WHO], AGORA). Since 2015, the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology is an online-only journal and 325 308 article downloads were noted in 2017. The journal's top users in 2017 reflect its international appeal and we are pleased that 1 280 researchers subscribe to our e-toc alert service, through which tables of contents are sent direct to their Inbox. All papers for Scandinavian Journal of Immunology are submitted and refereed online, which secures rapid reviewing. The journal operates a stringent peer review process, which is a key aspect of all scientific publishing. All referees are given feedback on the decisions made on the papers they have reviewed. The average handling time for a paper is 20 days from submission to first decision and 48 days from submission to final decision. In 2017, the author's final accepted version was made available online within an average of 5 days from receipt at the production office. Thus, articles from the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology are downloadable and citable faster than ever. There are no page charges or submission fees for authors publishing in the journal. Reviews are freely accessible and because all publication is online, colour reproduction is free. Author-funded open access is available for those whose funding bodies mandate publication in an open access journal. Members of immunological societies can receive the journal at the privileged rate of £30. This year, we have also seen a further increase in Scandinavian Journal of Immunology's impact factor—it has now reached 2.314—giving us confidence that the journal is moving in the right direction. I want to take this opportunity to thank the former Editor-in-Chief, Professor Roland Jonsson, his associated editors and editorial board and our journal administrator Kate Frøland, for all dedicated work. Because of them, the journal is in a very good shape to meet future challenges. Like many other journals, the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology must adapt to a changing publishing landscape. Electronic manuscript handling and printing have made it easier to launch new journals, and existing well-established journals expand their arena by creating chains of connected magazines to keep submissions “in the family”. Competition for high-quality immunology submissions therefore tightens, making it important for the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology to adhere even more to its profile to keep its place among immunology journals. The Scandinavian Journal of Immunology has an established niche as the official journal of the Scandinavian Society for Immunology, and an important future goal is to increase submissions from Scandinavian researchers. However, we also receive many high-quality submissions from several countries outside Scandinavia, not the least from Asia, and maintaining and increasing a steady flow of manuscripts from these countries is another important task. As a new Editor-in-Chief for the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology, I am dedicated to follow the successful path laid out by my predecessor to maintain and develop the Journal to remain a leading player in its sector. A strategic plan for the coming 5 years has been decided and myself, my deputy Editors-in-Chief and my group of Associate Editors are convinced that working towards a number of specific goals with clear and measurable follow-up actions will further strengthen our journal. With published contributions from corresponding authors in 46 countries around the world, the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology is truly international in outlook. It is with great pleasure that we present the ECI2018 issue of the journal. It contains two discussion forum articles on the concept of immune tolerance,1, 2 two reviews3, 4 and four regular articles,5-8 which together reflect the scope and the international profile of the Journal. I hope that you will enjoy these papers and that you will continue to follow us and, above all, submit your future papers to the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology.

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Landscape of Cancer Rehabilitation Research (1992-2016).

Cancer rehabilitation research has accelerated as great attention has focused on improving survivorship care. Recent expert consensus has attempted to prioritize research needs and suggests greater focus on studying physical functioning of survivors. However, no analysis of the publication landscape has substantiated these proposed needs. This manuscript provides an analysis of PubMed indexed articles related to cancer rehabilitation published between 1992 and 2017. A total of 22 171 publications were analyzed using machine learning and text analysis to assess publication metrics, topic areas of emphasis, and their interrelationships through topic similarity networks. Publications have increased at a rate of 136 articles per year. Approximately 10% of publications were funded by the National Institutes of Health institutes and centers, with the National Cancer Institute being the most prominent funder. The greatest volume and rate of publication increase were in the topics of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies and Psychological Interventions, followed by Depression and Exercise Therapy. Four research topic similarity networks were identified and provide insight on areas of robust publication and notable deficits. Findings suggest that publication emphasis has strongly supported cognitive, behavioral, and psychological therapies; however, studies of functional morbidity and physical rehabilitation research are lacking. Three areas of publication deficits are noted: research on populations outside of breast, prostate, and lung cancers; methods for integrating physical rehabilitation services with cancer care, specifically regarding functional screening and assessment; and physical rehabilitation interventions. These deficits align with the needs identified by expert consensus and support the supposition that future research should emphasize a focus on physical rehabilitation.

The Evolving Landscape of Academic Publishing: Essential Knowledge for Extension Scholars

Extension faculty participate actively in creating and disseminating research in the natural sciences, social sciences, and emerging field of implementation science. This article discusses several current trends in academic publishing of which Extension scholars need to be aware. These include the rise in the use of metrics to evaluate journals, the growing open-access movement in academic publishing, and the proliferation of sham or predatory journals that charge publication fees without providing meaningful review or academic rigor. An awareness of these trends and the capacity to deal with them effectively will enable Extension scholars to optimize their success in disseminating their creative scholarly contributions.

Nicole and the tower blocks

Andree Clair and Bernadette Despres’ “Nicole” series is unique in the history of children’s picture books in France. Published between 1969 and 1978 by the communist publisher La Farandole, it is the only series for children which provides a positive image of large-scale council estates [grands ensembles]. This article sets the series in its context of the French publishing landscape of the 1970’s, and makes the connection between this series and the “triumph of modernism” discourse in the media and in state policy on modern urban council estates in the postwar period. In so doing, it analyses the novelty of the iconotextual narrative of the “Nicole” series, and sheds light on the ideological position-taking of both author and artist.

Balancing influence in a shifting scholarly communication landscape: Creating library-owned, community-aligned infrastructure through individual, local, and community action

With the acquisition and creation of scholarly communication platforms/infrastructure by major commercial entities, the balance of influence continues to shift. The ACRL/SPARC Forum at the 2018 ALA Midwinter Meeting brought together library stakeholders for a conversation about how the library community can reassert its influence to shape the open access publishing landscape. Panelists focused on 1) Individual action: “What can one person do?” 2) Local coordinated action: “How can one group or institution effect change?” and 3) Collective action: “How can libraries work together to provide sustainable alternatives?”1

The academic book and its digital dilemmas

The future of the academic book has been under debate for many years now, with academic institutional dynamics boosting output, while actual demand has moved in the opposite direction, leading to a reduced market which has felt like it is in crisis for some time. While journals have experienced widespread migration to digital, scholarly monographs in print form have been resilient and digital alternatives have faced significant problems of acceptance, particularly in the arts and humanities. Focusing in particular on the arts and humanities, this article asks how, and under what conditions, the digitally mediated long-form academic publication might hold a viable future. It examines digital disruption and innovation within humanities publishing, contrasts different models and outlines some of the key challenges facing scholarly publishing in the humanities. This article examines how non-traditional entities, such as digital humanities research projects, have performed digital publishing roles and reviews possible implications for scholarly book publishing’s relationship to the wider research process. It concludes by looking at how digital or hybrid long-form publications might become more firmly established within the scholarly publishing landscape.

Waking up as Alan: Game novelisation and the player-reader-writer

‘What kind of writer are you?’ So the question is asked of Alan Wake, best-selling novelist embedded in his own horror story in Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake (2010), and subsequent novelisation by Rick Burroughs (2010). What kind of writer you are is a question which has long vexed not only genre fiction authors, but also those writers whose work feeds on/back into established narrative worlds. Game novelisation, the ‘reverse’ adaptation of videogames into novels, has attracted almost no academic enquiry to-date, and is much maligned by critics. Yet game novelisation is a writing and publishing practice on the increase, and when considered in overlap with the voluminous quantities of game fan fiction published online, transformative narrative practice is a phenomenon which begs greater attention within creative writing. While there is much work to be done on game novelisation and game fan fiction in terms of its place, reception and impact within gamer and publishing landscapes, from a creative writing viewpoint there is value to be gained in teasing out aspects of writing that are unique to these practices, and to consider how immersion in narrative world building is altered by the player cum reader cum writer. Using Alan Wake as one example, this article presents selected contextual discussion before performing a reflection on my own experience of narrative world building as player, reader and writer.

Subscription Agents: Problem Solving in the Middle

abstractSubscription agents provide a variety of intermediary services and products for libraries. Some of their functions include publication sourcing, order and invoice consolidation, providing publisher information, statistics and analysis, and software. In addition, they often work as change agents to the publishing landscape. The following article provides an overview of these many services from the perspective of a select group of subscription agents, librarians, and library staff. Subjects discussed include industry challenges, customer service, and the future relationship between subscription agents and libraries.