Science Publishing: the Transition to Open Access Going Dutch

The negotiations between the Dutch universities (VSNU – the Association of Universities in The Netherlands) and three large publishers (Springer, Wiley, Sage) have been concluded and significant steps to include open access in the deals with those publishers have been made. With Elsevier, however, the negotiations are in deadlock, according to the VSNU. They have called for a boycott, but the real question is, of course, why it is that Elsevier, the largest, and Dutch (!) academic publisher, can’t – or won’t – do what other large publishers can – and will. I have no answer to that, but in trying to sketch the situation in some detail, I hope to add some clarity to it. The outcome of the negotiations is surely going to influence other countries. Read More →

The SciELO in Perspective blog celebrates its second anniversary

This July, the blog SciELO in Perspective celebrates its second anniversary in communicating, analyzing and discussing innovations and advances in the field of information science, in increasing the visibility of the journals indexed by SciELO, and in sharing the developments of the SciELO Program which is guided by its priority action lines concerning the professionalization, internationalization and sustainability of the journals. Read More →

Ethics in research: how to improve the integrity of scientists in their work

Scientific activity as a social enterprise must maintain its credibility. The Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines are presented as a recent and innovative initiative for scientific journals, and as one of the ways to guard this social value. Read More →

SciELO adopts CC-BY as main Open Access attribution

From 1st July 2015 the SciELO Program will adopt the Creative Commons license CC-BY as a standard of Open Access attribution to SciELO Brazil Collection. By this decision, SciELO aligns to the Open Access policies adopted by the leading journals and international publishers with the main purpose to increase and the options of access and reuse of the published articles. Read More →

SciELO updates the guide for publication of errata and retractions

In late-May 2015 the SciELO Program published the updated guide for publication of erratum, retraction and expression of concern. The guide was written based on international guidelines and recommendations and it is directed to editors of journals indexed in SciELO. Read More →

Can monies spent globally on journal subscriptions be completely transitioned to an OA business model to free the journals?

The recent rapid growth in open access publishing, and the clear benefits that open access presents to society as a whole leads to the question: can all subscription based scientific journals in the world be transitioned to open access in a sustainable way? Is there enough money currently in the system for such a transition, and would there be any economic impact? A recent eye-opening study published by the Max Planck Digital Library delves into this issue and provides some very concrete answers based on real expenditures in subscriptions and on the real costs of open access services. Read More →

Dealing with information overload

Information overload is a major barrier researchers face to capture and ingest the knowledge that is being discovered and created by science. The challenge is how to develop ways to create overviews of the knowledge that has been published related to specific areas of interest. The Lazarus initiative is introduced. Read More →

Enhancing peer review: guides, tutorials and good practice manuals

The validation of scientific reports before publication is an established practice, whose effectiveness and importance is recognized by authors, publishers, funding agencies and scientific societies around the world, in order to ensure the originality, quality, reliability, integrity and consistency of scholarly literature. What has long been the exclusive prerogative of publishers and editors now relies on innovative initiatives by organizations and societies dedicated to understand and improve the process. Read More →

Peer review: The pleasure of publishing – originally published in the journal eLife in January/2015

When assessing manuscripts eLife editors look for a combination of rigour and insight, along with results and ideas that make other researchers think differently about their subject. Read More →

eLife: an example of improved peer review

The online open access peer reviewed journal eLife publishes articles in biomedicine and life sciences. The nonprofit publication emerged from the ideas of its founders to create a publication model that met the needs of the academic community regarding editorial policy. The journal relies on a staff of Senior Editors made of renowned, experienced researchers, which are active in their fields. Its peer review process is innovative and aims to ensure clear assessment goals as well as constructive and consolidated comments made by Editor and reviewers. Read More →

The use of research metrics is diversified in the Leiden Manifesto

Research evaluation in recent decades has been increasingly conducted through metrics and indicators, which are gradually replacing the assessment by peers. Researchers gathered at the 19th International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators (STI 2014) held in September 2014 in Leiden, Netherlands, in order to advise on the use of metrics in research assessment drafted a set of rules – the Leiden Manifesto. Know its guidelines. Read More →

Peer-review as a research topic in its own right

Over the last decade, the topic of scholarly communication has attracted the interest of researchers in all fields of knowledge. One of the most studied topics is the assessment of peer review, including its qualitative and quantitative aspects, its ability to detect and curb unethical practices, the appreciation of its methods of assessment and how technology can facilitate and improve the process, while meeting the challenges brought about by the age of digital publishing. Read More →

Peer review: bad with it, worse without it

Peer review is seen as one of the pillars – if not the most important – of scientific communication. Despite the difficulties in going through the review process, the authors believe that the process improves the quality of the manuscript, and they want to be published on refereed journals that have a sound evaluation mechanism. Recent cases of attempted manipulation of the peer review process by fake reviews concern the international scientific community, however, it does not undermine its credibility and trust. The peer review crisis can be an opportunity to strengthen and improve the process. Read More →

The Elsevier you know is not the only Elsevier

The current science publisher Elsevier may have the same name as the venerable publishing house that published the work of great scientists in the 16th and 17th century, but there is in fact no historical connection other than the name. Read More →

Online management of manuscripts is a required indexing criterion of SciELO

From 2015 on all journals indexed in SciELO Brazil should operate the review of manuscripts with the support of a system or service that records the flow of transactions and produce follow up reports and statistics. The aim is to strengthen the quality and credibility of the journals. Read More →