Category Archives: Publishing

We Need Open Data, Not Open Access

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

The Dreaded Nat makes two good points about open access publishing. First (boldface mine): So what does it all mean for the average layperson? Precious little, I’m afraid. The Wellcome Trust’s move towards open access is highly unlikely to lead … Continue reading →

Posted in Genomics, Publishing | 4 Comments

If You Want Open Science, Then You Need to Convince Funders

Posted on March 1, 2012 by

What with the RWA kerfuffle, there has been a resurgence in advocacy for open-access science–not just removing paywalls, but also eliminating traditional peer review. To put it simply, if you are serious about this, then you have to work with … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Publishing | 2 Comments

Science Publishers Do Not “Produce”: The Arrogance of the AAP

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

By now, you might have read about the Research Works Act, H.R. 3699, which would prevent any government agency from placing privately published articles into a public access repository if “any value-added contribution, including peer review or editing” has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Publishing | 2 Comments

In Defense of (Some) Large Author Lists

Posted on November 14, 2011 by

While I was convalescing, a minor kerfuffle erupted over ‘courtesy authors’ on scientific papers, when the British Medical Journal announced its new rules for authorship inclusion: The uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to medical journals state that authorship credit should … Continue reading →

Posted in Engineering, Funding, Genomics, Publishing | 4 Comments

Public Data, Publishing, Priority, and Public Health

Posted on July 27, 2011 by

While publication is enshrined as the pinnacle of scientific communication, in the case of the E. coli O104:H4 outbreak, it was pretty much irrelevant. It also encouraged bad behavior.
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Posted in E. coli, Genomics, Propaganda, Publishing | 4 Comments

Publishing Should Serve Scientists, Not Publishers

Posted on July 14, 2011 by

Tenure committees and grant panels need some way of differentiating faculty and proposals. If we move to this brave new world of scientific communication, how will assessment work?
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Posted in Publishing | 17 Comments

Peer Review Is an Awful System, but It’s Better Than All of the Other Awful Systems: The McKinsey ACA Report Edition

Posted on June 12, 2011 by

There are all sorts of problems with federally-funded research and peer review. But the McKinsey scandal should put things in proper perspective.
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Posted in Bidness, Ethics, Publishing

Why Should Publishers Organize Science?

Posted on April 12, 2011 by

We do need to rethink project and data management, communication networks, and so on. But I’ll be damned if I let a publisher be involved from the outset.
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Posted in Bioinformatics, Publishing | 3 Comments

Are Smaller and/or Newer Labs More Innovative?

Posted on April 11, 2011 by

Any data on productivity of different sized labs or original awards versus re-resubmissions?
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Posted in Funding, NIH, Publishing | 4 Comments

A Modest eBook Proposal for Publishers and Libraries

Posted on March 23, 2011 by

Treat eBooks like…books.
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Posted in Books, Libraries, Publishing | 5 Comments