Among the many factors that influence citation practice in scholarly communication, the language of publication plays a key role. A study by Argentine researchers showed that English articles receive more citations than those published in other languages. Despite being perceived by many as of lower quality and relevance, articles in Spanish from two Latin American journals were blind evaluated and were not, in fact, underqualified. … Read More →
Is the reproducibility crisis exacerbated by pre-publication peer review?
A lack of scrutiny of articles published in peer-reviewed journals on the basis of a belief that pre-publication peer-review provides sufficient scrutiny, may well add to the relatively high number of articles in which results are presented that cannot be replicated. … Read More →
Is it possible to normalize citation metrics?
Bibliometric indicators represent much more than an indication of the visibility, relevance and impact of an article. A researcher’s entire career profile can be summarized in one or more numerical productivity and impact indicators of his research. However, citation metrics vary considerably according to the area of knowledge, the publication age, the type of document and the coverage of the database where citations were accrued. Is it possible to normalize them? Here we discuss the challenges of this practice. … Read More →
Theses and dissertations: pros and cons of the traditional and alternative formats
In order to expedite the writing and assessment of theses, institutions and graduate programs in several countries, including Brazil, are choosing to allow candidates who have published papers on their masters or doctorate research topics to replace the thesis chapters by these articles, headed by an introduction, conclusion and review of scientific literature. Is this format ideal and applicable to all? … Read More →
How do researchers and journalists in Brazil relate to each other?
Scientists admit that dealing with complex issues related to their research with journalists is not an easy task. However, long they realized that communicate their results in scientific journals is not enough. To obtain research grants, attract collaboration opportunities and for career advancement, it is necessary – and advisable – to communicate with the public through journalists. Read about the details of this relationship and what can be done to improve it. … Read More →
On the immediate rejection of manuscripts without external peer review
Not all texts received by scientific journals are sent to external evaluation. The arbitration process in the double blind system implies a high liability for editors and reviewers, and the burden of this process ends up expressed in a lengthy evaluation process, with direct effects on authors (who wait too long to receive a decision) and on readers (that may have access to delayed data). We used some data on the management of Revista de Sociologia e Política to think about the benefits and losses by rejecting original articles based on preliminary analysis by the editors (desk review evaluation), without requiring reviews issued by referees external to the editorial board. … Read More →
Instructions to authors of Health Science journals: what do they communicate?
Instructions to authors (IA) allegedly contain all necessary and sufficient information to guide authors on the correct submission of a manuscript to a journal. Actually, however, a huge diversity of contents not always fulfills that purpose. In this post, we analyze the instructions to authors of SciELO Brazil Health Science journals, as well as literature on the subject. … Read More →
eBooks – global market and trends – Part III – Final: The publication of printed and digital books in the global context
The e-book Global report shows that the traditional model based on large publishing houses was insufficient to incorporate the possibilities of technological advances. On the one hand, the new reading models through smartphones and subscription platforms and on the other hand, self-publishing of ebooks open opportunities to both individual authors and non-profit organizations in the educational field to produce and distribute their own works at low cost and minimal infrastructure requirements. … Read More →
How Open Access can boost researchers’ careers
Full adoption of open access has not been achieved mainly because researchers are not yet totally convinced that this type of publication will do for their careers the same as the subscription journals. A detailed review article published in eLife shows that open research brings many benefits to researchers and it is associated with increased citations, media attention, potential collaboration and funding and jobs opportunities. … Read More →
eBooks – global market and trends – Part II: The publication of printed and digital books in the world context
The Global report on ebooks shows that after several years of growth, commercial companies find a decelerated market, where two lines of action strongly emerge: (a) the digitizing of educational books; and (b) books self-publishing initiatives. In this market stands out the ‘four horsemen’ initiatives that shape the digital ecology, integrated by Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook. … Read More →
eBooks – global market and trends – Part I: Print and digital publication in the global context
In recent years, a global industry of electronic books (ebooks) has emerged, with great force in the English language market and remarkable strength in the United States. There are indicators showing a race between traditional publishing industries and also global players such as Amazon and non-traditional ones, such as authors publishing individually and independently. A recent report published last April, divided into four major sections, presents detailed statistics on the production and market of ebooks from large and medium companies throughout the world, which are the debates and key factors that are shaping the legal and pirate markets, and it also includes a “yellow pages” section, with more than 350 companies dedicated to various services and components in the electronic book chain edition. … Read More →
Zika Fast Track
How can scientific journals assist in the response to Public Health Emergencies? The journal Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz has innovated by creating a fast track for manuscripts submitted on the topic of the Zika Virus. The fast track procedure allows manuscripts to be posted on-line within 24 hours of submission making the data within them available to reader scrutiny and sharing while the manuscripts undergo peer-review. The journal is already reaping some benefits from this approach. … Read More →
The best of both worlds
Quality is an ill-defined concept with regard to scholarly literature. Some aspects of quality can be assessed reasonably objectively, and immediately, such as the quality of presentation. But some cannot be readily determined, and need time and ‘digestion’ by the scholarly community, such as the scientific quality of an article. And then there is the quality of a journal’s service to authors, of particular importance for open access publishing that is supported by Article Processing Charges. Also relevant is the question whether a strong focus on quality and excellence is indeed beneficial to science, or not. I am providing a link to an article on that most interesting topic. … Read More →
Open Access reviewed: stricter criteria preserve credibility
The most comprehensive index of open access journals, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), reviewed its inclusion criteria, in view of allegations of the presence of predatory journals. This restructuring will lead to more than 3,000 journals to be removed from the database. DOAJ, besides advocating Open Access, established, in collaboration with COPE, OASPA and WAME, a code of principles and good practices in scientific publishing. … Read More →
The search for scientific literature: how readers discover content
What are the sources most used by researchers and other professionals to search and access scholarly literature? A detailed study conducted by experts in publication and management of scientific journals, published in March 2016, aimed to answer this question. Through a survey with over 40,000 readers worldwide, the authors built a broad overview of users’ reading habits, comparing those with results from the last ten years. … Read More →
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