Étiquette : scientific communication

Catégories
EN

Considering Non-Open Access Publication Charges in the “Total Cost of Publication”

Recent research has tried to calculate the “total cost of publication” in the British academic sector, bringing together the costs of journal subscriptions, the article processing charges (APCs) paid to publish open-access content, and the indirect costs of handling open-access mandates. This study adds an estimate for the other publication charges (predominantly page and colour charges) currently paid by research institutions, a significant element which has been neglected by recent studies.

When these charges are included in the calculation, the total cost to institutions as of 2013/14 is around 18.5% over and above the cost of journal subscriptions—11% from APCs, 5.5% from indirect costs, and 2% from other publication charges. For the British academic sector as a whole, this represents a total cost of publication around £213 million against a conservatively estimated journal spend of £180 million, with non-APC publication charges representing around £3.6 million.

A case study is presented to show that these costs may be unexpectedly high for individual institutions, depending on disciplinary focus. The feasibility of collecting this data on a widespread basis is discussed, along with the possibility of using it to inform future subscription negotiations with publishers.

URL : Considering Non-Open Access Publication Charges in the “Total Cost of Publication”

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/publications3040248

Catégories
EN

The Challenges of Journal Startup in the Digital Era

This paper aims to contribute to the evolving literature on the new landscape of scholarly journals. It builds on a series of experiences as a journal editor which span the print and digital eras, and focuses on two current activities with new journals.

One was designed as a synoptic journal in a broad multidisciplinary field, supported by a commercial publisher; the other a non-revenue journal which aims to showcase the work of undergraduates in the author’s institution. Despite the uniqueness of goals and delivery, some of the experiences—and challenges—have proved remarkably similar.

URL : The Challenges of Journal Startup in the Digital Era

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/publications3040219

Catégories
FR

Enjeux de la numérisation des herbiers pour l’information et la communication scientifiques : de la transformation des matières documentaires à l’évolution des pratiques

Nous appréhendons les mutations entraînées par la numérisation des collections d’histoire naturelle dans la production et la communication de l’information scientifique. Notre étude s’appuie sur une analyse des herbiers comme artefacts répondant aux besoins de la conservation et de la communication de l’information entre acteurs intervenant dans la production des savoirs mobilisant les collections.

Nous analysons le statut documentaire des images à partir de leur exploitation différentielle dans les pratiques scientifiques selon les objectifs et étapes des recherches. Malgré les limites de l’exploitation des bases de données d’images pour le travail sur les spécimens, elles sont essentielles à l’accès et à l’enrichissement des informations des collections.

URL : http://lesenjeux.u-grenoble3.fr/2015-dossier/05-Chupin/index.html

Catégories
EN

The cost of reading research. A study of Computer Science publication venues

What does the cost of academic publishing look like to the common researcher today? Our goal is to convey the current state of academic publishing, specifically in regards to the field of computer science and provide analysis and data to be used as a basis for future studies. We will focus on author and reader costs as they are the primary points of interaction within the publishing world.

In this work, we restrict our focus to only computer science in order to make the data collection more feasible (the authors are computer scientists) and hope future work can analyze and collect data across all academic fields.

URL : http://arxiv.org/abs/1512.00127

Catégories
EN

Opening the Black Box of Scholarly Communication Funding: A Public Data Infrastructure for Financial Flows in Academic Publishing

« Public access to publicly funded research » has been one of the rallying calls of the global open access movement. Governments and public institutions around the world have mandated that publications supported by public funding sources should be publicly accessible. Publishers are experimenting with new models to widen access.

Yet financial flows underpinning scholarly publishing remain complex and opaque. In this paper we present work to trace and reassemble a picture of financial flows around the publication of journals in the UK in the midst of a national shift towards open access.

We contend that the current lack of financial transparency around scholarly communication is an obstacle to evidence-based policy-making – leaving researchers, decision-makers and institutions in the dark about the systemic implications of new financial models.

We conclude that obtaining a more joined up picture of financial flows is vital as a means for researchers, institutions and others to understand and shape changes to the sociotechnical systems that underpin scholarly communication.

URL : http://ssrn.com/abstract=2690570

Catégories
EN

A new scholar’s perspective on open peer review

This article argues that the pedagogical and scholarly benefits of open peer review far outweigh those of traditional double-blind peer review, but require a shift in our perspective of the function and value of peer review – from a gate-keeping process, toward a supportive, constructive process of collaboration between peers and mentors.

URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2015.1085857

Catégories
EN

International dissemination of evidence-based practice, open access and the IACAPAP textbook of child and adolescent mental health

Dramatic changes have occurred in both publishing and teaching in the last 20 years stemming from the digital and Internet revolutions. Such changes are likely to grow exponentially in the near future aided by the trend to open access publishing. This revolution has challenged traditional publishing and teaching methods that—largely but not exclusively due to cost—are particularly relevant to professionals in low and middle income countries.

The digital medium and the Internet offer boundless opportunities for teaching and training to people in disadvantaged regions. This article describes the development of the IACAPAP eTextbook of child and adolescent mental health, its use, accessibility, and potential impact on the international dissemination of evidence-based practice.

URL : International dissemination of evidence-based practice, open access and the IACAPAP textbook of child and adolescent mental health

URL : http://www.capmh.com/content/9/1/51