Academic publishing

Critics argue that The Lancet failed to disclose potential conflict of interest when dismissing the leak theory

Trailblazing initiative to transform hiring, promotion and performance review has been praised by open science advocates

With history books increasingly including first-person, ‘confessional’ elements, authors explain why they take this approach, while other historians reflect on the dangers

Podcast denying systemic racist attitudes in medicine seen as emblematic of leadership at top periodical

Wide support for cOAlition S’ rights retention strategy would allow negotiators to take a harder line with publishers, says Alice Gibson 

LSE’s iconic Economists’ Bookshop is latest casualty but scholars and booksellers insist the university bookstore still matters

Allowing faulty papers to go unchallenged damages integrity and threatens dangerous real-world consequences, says Peter Bowbrick

Historic learned society sets 75 per cent threshold for ‘flipping’ major titles

Analysis argues that science has a ‘critical problem’ because its self-correction process is slow and ineffective

Future citations of a journal paper drop by more than a third after being included in a review

David A. Sanders enjoys a vivid account of the many crafty ways academics steal the words of others

Be careful about what you give away in your excitement about signing a contract for a book, says Lennard Davis

The pandemic has curtailed urgent discussion of open access’ impact on scholarly societies, says Frank James

Initial data suggest a drop in published proceedings amid shift to virtual events

German study finds academics favouring Springer Nature and Wiley, with authors warning smaller publishers could be squeezed out

Covid-19 has prompted an explosion in preprints but has curtailed networking and underlined the extra pressures on women and junior academics. Simon Baker asks whether the pandemic era is a dark blip or a bright new dawn

Research is for public benefit. The UK’s next deal with Elsevier must accelerate the abolition of journal paywalls, says Paul Boyle

Four-year study into publisher responses uncovers delays of almost three years to investigations and ‘huge variance’ in action taken

The pandemic has exposed the limits that commercial models impose on libraries’ ability to facilitate access, says Gauthier Van Malderen

University system will keep paying publisher about $13 million (£9.4 million) a year

Academics’ desire to help the planet being ‘lost amid the realities of being a researcher’, survey concludes

Many university-owned periodicals are considering changing their business model, but report authors call for new funding strategy

Historic in-house press at Massachusetts Institute of Technology asking libraries for participant fee to enable titles to become publicly available

Data from study pinpoints first years after childbirth as biggest hit to women’s research productivity

Knock-backs are frequent and unavoidable. But treating referees’ comments with a hard-headed pragmatism lessens the sting, says Adrian Furnham

Controversial journal paper stirs debate on Asian wartime slavery

This isn’t the 18th century. Email and phones exist. So why is so much academic discussion still left to journals, asks Julian Baggini

Study says academics should highlight unreviewed papers’ uncertainty

Major scholarly publishers warn that some titles will become unviable unless open access scheme changes tack on compliance

Shocking lapses in scientific standards show why renewed scrutiny of existing literature and new anti-fraud measures are needed, says David A. Sanders

Percentage of papers with female authors rose markedly in latter part of 2020

National University of Singapore Press criticised over decision to scrap publication of title critical of country’s rulers

Strategy for institutional financing of open science follows California and UK models

Announcement of hefty article processing charges by prestige titles challenges goals of open access mandate

Thousands of PhD dissertations by Durham University available on Kindle services following mass scraping of online repository

Manuscripts by female authors enjoy more favourable treatment in many disciplines, according to analysis of 350,000 journal submissions