The Scholarly Kitchen
Kent Anderson
Why Is ClinicalTrials.gov Still Struggling?
With no clear benefits to researchers, a frustrating user experience, and no penalties for non-compliance, ClinicalTrials.gov is becoming increasingly irrelevant to clinical researchers and the world at large with each passing day. What does this mean for public access to research results? Is an obligation to patients putting themselves at risk in trials being breached? Why has it failed to live up to its potential? Continue reading
Revisiting: Have Journal Prices Really Increased Much in the Digital Age?
Revisiting Kent Anderson’s 2013 post discussing a study on library spending that suggests that the costs of journals have not increased as much as is commonly claimed, and that the increases seen are due to the increased volume being published. Continue reading
Guest Post: Kent Anderson — How Can Non-profits Improve Their Governance?
Editor’s Note: More from Scholarly Kitchen alumnus Kent Anderson. This post stems from a conversation around finding the right balance between effective business management and focus on mission. Governance is coming up more frequently as a subject of conversation and concern among executives and managers in non-profit organizations. The topic’s rising prominence coincides with more … Continue reading
Revisiting: The Price of Posting — PubMed Central Spends Most of Its Budget Handling Author Manuscripts
Revisiting Kent Anderson’s post based on his FOIA request documents show that PubMed Central spends most of its money tagging author manuscripts, and that its stricter rules for NIH authors may double its costs. Continue reading
Central Casting — The Funding Problems We’re Baking Into the Future of Scholarly Publishing
As we drift into a scholarly economy with centralized payment mechanisms and greater dependence on government funding, are we truly setting ourselves up for long-term independence and success? Continue reading
Loaded Dice — The New Research Conundrums Posed by Mechanical Turk
The use of Mechanical Turk in research may generate misleading data and false information. Do we need to guard against such mechanical methodologies? Continue reading
Taking Our Eye Off the Ball — Why Is Science Suffering in the Modern Age?
While more scientific information than ever is available, science itself is struggling for funding, for cultural footholds, and for priority in society. What has gone wrong? Continue reading
The Flatscreen Install — Moving Collaboration from Print to Digital
Would adding a big flatscreen TV to my office might make a difference? Yes, in big and important ways. Continue reading
A Head of Schedule — The Increasing Importance of Project and Portfolio Management
The project manager has become a critical part of success in a publishing world with more complex systems, processes, and vendor relationships. But finding a good one is still a challenge. Continue reading
Going APE — Thoughts and Insights with a European Perspective
The Academic Publishing in Europe (APE) meeting in Europe is 10 years old, but feels as fresh and frisky as some of the meetings in the US used to. This report touches on some of the most interesting threads of two days’ worth of interesting presentations and conversations. Continue reading
Macmillan + Springer: Some Lessons to Learn, Some Twists to Watch
The merger of Macmillan and Springer holds many lessons and some interesting twists. More than anything, it indicates a future in which scale continues to confer advantages. Continue reading
The New Cluetrain — A Barometer for What Has Changed in the Last 15 Years
Fifteen years later, the authors of the “Cluetrain Manifesto” attempt a relevant update, with 112 new “clues.” Yet, they miss the biggest clue of all — the Internet is no longer sacred and its users know it. Continue reading
Is Google Now a Publisher Offering Other Publishers an Inadequate Deal?
A Spanish court’s decision around Google News suggests that the barter arrangement with Google and other general search engines — in which they pay nothing to license our content — may have a more viable financial future. Continue reading
Cyberwar and Cyberterror — New and Unwelcome Companions in Publishing and Culture
The emerging spectre of cyberwar and cyberterror has real implications for academic and scientific publishers, who already deal with the side effects and may become targets in the future. Continue reading
Exaggerated Claims — Has “Publish or Perish” Become “Publicize or Perish”?
A recent study finds that academic press offices exaggerate claims in their press releases about published research. Worse, the vast majority of these find their way into subsequent reporting. Continue reading
Buried in the Matryoshka — Unpacking the “Value Add” of Peer Review
Publishers often slap labels on activities that are complex, expensive, and high-value. Worse, we often accept people calling these activities “value-add” when they are core functions of how scientific information shared. Continue reading
Confounded Complexity — Pondering the Endless Upgrade Paths of Digital Publishing
We were wrong to expect that online publishing would be cheaper and simpler than print. Acknowledging that, and facing the slower, more complicated commercial world it has created, could put us on a better path. Continue reading
Slow and Steady — Taking the Time to Think in the Age of Rapid Publishing Cycles
Simple things are often more complex than we initially think, and the push for faster publication may be an expensive and risky trend to follow too much further. Continue reading
Dare I Say This? — The Chilling Effect of Gun Laws on Academic Free Speech
Intimidation from armed citizens leads to a speech being canceled, but is part of a more troubling and long-term problem of shootings at schools and on college campuses. Why are we allowing this to happen? Continue reading
Old and Stale? — Aging Researchers, Funding Trends, and the Doughnut Effect
Proposals to get more money to younger researchers shine a light on the aging cadre of academic researchers and the lack of succession we risk with current practices. Continue reading
Authors
The mission of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) is "[t]o advance scholarly publishing and communication, and the professional development of its members through education, collaboration, and networking." SSP established The Scholarly Kitchen blog in February 2008 to keep SSP members and interested parties aware of new developments in publishing.
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The Scholarly Kitchen is a moderated and independent blog. Opinions on The Scholarly Kitchen are those of the authors. They are not necessarily those held by the Society for Scholarly Publishing nor by their respective employers.