From: Diane Scott-Lichter <[log in to unmask]> Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:49:56 -0400 Problems with Gold OA? Latest issue of Learned Publishing now out www.learned-publishing.org We kick off with three independent (that is, they don’t know about each other’s pieces!) items pointing out, as they see it, problems – all different – with the Gold OA model. Not that they have a lot to say about the parasitic (that’s meant to be a factual adjective, not a pejorative one) Green OA model. Personally, with a modest background in physics, I’m delighted that one of these is from one of the world’s most eminent physicists, Sir Michael Berry. Another is from the person who, I think, has the distinction of coining a new term in our world, ‘Predatory publishers’, Jeffrey Beall, and rounded off by one of the pioneers of administering APCs at universities, Stephen Pinfield. What with the item about the issue of ‘funder power’ that we had in January, we seem to be experiencing an upsurge in people beginning to think through the issues as all the funder and national mandates proliferate. As long as the debate remains rational, this must be all to the good? We also have a few ‘meaty’ items. For example, there’s a pretty detailed review and comparison of Google Scholar Metrics with JCR and Scimago – when things are similar or correlations are high, it doesn’t mean they are equivalent, does it? Have a look to see what I mean. Then, perhaps for the more technically minded, there’s a thorough look at e-book and print production by Liam Borgstrom – even though technical in approach, he does plead for what you might call the ‘human factor’. Two surveys of actual researchers appear in the issue – one on the needs of international authors, with some tips to journals on how they can help non-native English speakers, even at the level of peer review. The other concentrates on exactly how a relatively small group of researchers handle their workflow – what do you think this comment is referring to; ‘It’s for people who have too much time on their hands’? it’s interesting, and possibly telling, but you’ll have to read the piece to find out! Yateendra Joshi queries the need for all those minutiae you find in ‘style’ guides (let’s hear it from any who disagree), and then, as always these days, we have a couple of pieces about the changing scenes in China, one specifically on the online scene. I get a lot of submissions on the changes there, and try to ensure that anything we publish has something new and of interest. All polished off with some interesting book reviews, including one of the new handbook of journal publishing – and you don’t even need a subscription to read these. Likewise, my colleague, Diane Scott-Lichter, has an interesting free-to-read editorial, this time highlighting just how much time (and therefore money) publishers now need to spend investigating claims of plagiarism and other ethical violations. She calls for guidelines so that those making the claims know what evidence they need so that the whole process could be made a bit more efficient. So, there must be something among all that that you want to read? See you in three months. Alan Singleton Editor-in-Chief Learned Publishing [log in to unmask] --------------- Learned Publishing Volume 26 No 2 April 2013 http://www.learned-publishing.org All articles are free to all ALPSP and SSP members and to journal subscribers; in addition, editorials, reviews and letters to the Editors, as well as any articles where the author has taken up the 'ALPSP Author Choice' OA option, are now free to all. If you would like to receive an email alert or RSS feed every time a new issue goes online, all you have to do is sign up at http://alpsp.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/alpsp/lp ALPSP members - please log in to the ALPSP website to access the full content. SSP members - please log in to the member center on the SSP website to access the full content. _______________________________ Diane Scott-Lichter North American Editor Learned Publishing Journal of ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers)