Category Archives: Open Access

Scholarly publishing: time for a regulator?

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Stephen

“…price rises coupled with high profits, mis-selling scandals […] and a lack of transparency over bills have destroyed consumers’ trust […], a committee of MPs has said in a report that also criticises the sector’s watchdog for failing to take … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , , | 33 Comments

Richard Poynder asks: where are we with open access?

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Stephen

This post has been written simply to point you to an interesting series of interviews that Richard Poynder has published on his blog with a range of stakeholders in the open access arena. So far he has mostly interviewed advocates, … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Open access on the conference circuit

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Stephen

Having devoted a fair number of the words on this blog to open access over the past year and a half, I have found myself invited to an increasing number of meetings on the topic. Whether run by RLUK, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Debating Open Access

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Stephen

Twelve months after the publication of the Finch Report, during which the new RCUK policy on open access has been published, dissected, debated (including by committees in both Houses of Parliament), revised and implemented, it seems an apposite moment to … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Science & Politics | Tagged , | 46 Comments

Impact factors declared unfit for duty

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Stephen

Regulars at this blog will be familiar with the dim view that I have of impact factors, in particular their mis-appropriation for the evaluation of individual researchers and their work. I have argued for their elimination, in part because they … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Science | Tagged , , | 41 Comments

A vision for a better future – using new tools of openness and transparency to improve the scientific process

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Stephen

This is a guest post by Pete Binfield and Jason Hoyt, co-founders of the open access journal PeerJ. I don’t make a habit of running posts from private companies here at Reciprocal Space but have been impressed by the innovative … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Impact Factors — the revised RCUK open access guidelines

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Stephen

It has happened. Yesterday RCUK published the revised guidelines on its new open access policy and, as requested by this blog and everyone who signed up in support, the document (PDF) now includes, on page one no less, a statement … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Impact Factors — Letter to RCUK

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Stephen

Following my post of last week asking RCUK to include in the guidelines on their new open access policy a statement disavowing the use of impact factors in assessing funding applications, I wanted to thank everyone who registered their support. … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Impact factors — RCUK provides a chance to act

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Stephen

If I had more time, this post would be shorter. But it explains how we have an opportunity to get UK research councils to help break the corrosive dependence of researchers on impact factors. Please at least skim all the … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , , | 64 Comments

Royal Society Meeting on Open Access in the UK: What Willetts Wants

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Stephen

After all the excitement of open access (OA) developments last Friday, there was a chance to take stock this Monday at the Royal Society’s conference on “Open access in the UK and what it means for scientific research”. The meeting, … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Continental drift: important open access developments in the UK and US

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Stephen

Last Friday was a big day for open access — it felt like a kind of transition. In the morning the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords (the unelected second chamber in the UK parliament) published the … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

The Royal Institution: not time to move on

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Stephen

Less than a week after the Royal Institution announced that it was contemplating the sale of its historic home in Albermarle Street, Nature published an editorial criticising the 200 year old organisation for having lost its science communication mojo in … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Science, Open Access | Tagged , | 1 Comment