In quantitative social science papers, the discussion section serves as a place to analyse and put findings into a wider context. Philipp Schoenegger and Raimund Pils argue that rather than adding value, these discussions can leave findings open to the…
Category: Academic Publishing
The persistence of eugenics in mainstream journals highlights major gaps in research integrity
When published, bad data can have long lasting negative impacts on research and the wider world. In this post Rebecca Sear, traces the impact of the national IQ dataset and reflects how its continued use in research highlights the lack of priority give…
Female researchers are less influenced by journal prestige – will it hold back their careers?
Drawing on a natural experiment that occurred when German institutions lost access to journals published by Elsevier, W. Benedikt Schmal shows how female researchers made significantly different publication choices to their male counterparts during thi…
As cOAlition S consults on the future of community based scholarly publishing – it is time for social sciences and humanities to have their say
Reflecting on the open consultation into the future of community based scholarly publishing being run by cOAlition S, Niamh Tumelty outlines issues for the social sciences and humanities and invites readers to make their own contribution to the consult…
Sci-Hub presents a paradox for open access publishing
Sci-Hub has provided a popular, if illicit, access route to much of the scientific record. However, as Abdelghani Maddi discusses its relationship to genuine open access publication is problematic. Researchers and research funders are unanimous in reco…
The strain on academic publishing
Drawing on a decade of data on academic publications, Dan Brockington, Paolo Crosetto, Pablo Gómez Barreiro and Mark Hanson argue that an academic publishing industry based on volume poses serious hazards to the assessment and usefulness of research pu…
Finding a growth mindset for graduate writing
Despite being at grad school, one important part of academic life that is not always on the syllabus is academic writing. Drawing on work for her recent book, Thriving as a Graduate Writer, and blog, Explorations of Style, Rachael Cayley suggests three…
Generative AI – the latest scapegoat for research assessment
Reflecting on the debate around generative AI and its impact on scholarly communication, Danny Kingsley argues, much like open access twenty years earlier, AI holds a dark mirror to enduring flaws in research publishing and assessment. It has been inte…
Double-anonymous review is an effective way of combating status bias in scholarly publishing
Discussions around improving peer review often focus on openness as a mechanism to reduce bias. Drawing on a recent study of double and single anonymisation at the British Ecological Society, Charles Fox argues for the benefits of double anonymisation …
Making retraction data freely accessible – Why Crossref’s acquisition of the Retraction Watch database is a big step forward
Since its launch Retraction Watch has done much to highlight the value of research integrity and publishing standards. Discussing the recent acquisition by Crossref of Retraction Watch’s database of retracted articles, Ivan Oransky and Rachael Lammey h…