Category Archives: Publishing

Scientific Writing Is Really Boring

Posted on May 10, 2013 by

And that’s a problem. No, I’m not talking about science journalism, but actual science papers. I’ve been slowly (very slowly) working my way through the Dreaded Stack–the papers that you printed out in the vain hope that you’ll get around … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing | 11 Comments

The Other Casuality of Scientific Publishing

Posted on March 11, 2013 by

While there has been a great deal of discussion about open access publishing, in part due to the tragic death of Aaron Swartz, there is another problem with scientific publishing that has receded into the background: who controls how scientists … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing | 3 Comments

Open Access Advocates, Welcome to Liberalville

Posted on February 25, 2013 by

Because you too get to experience the awesomeness of sweeping incrementalism! By now, you might have heard about the White House’s new policy to make most federally funded research publications publicly available 12 months after publication. This is an improvement, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Conservatives, Democrats, Publishing | 1 Comment

Open Access: It’s the Funding, Stupid

Posted on January 23, 2013 by

Related to a point I made about funding and open science, DrugMonkey explains how the real stumbling blocks to open access publishing are funding agencies (boldface mine): This whole thing is getting ridiculous. I don’t have the unfettered freedom to … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Publishing | 2 Comments

The Grey Lady and David Brooks Made a Typo

Posted on January 8, 2013 by

While my take on the NY Times‘ David Brooks is that one should read his columns for the pictures–and since there are no pictures in his columns, you would be better off not reading them at all, I did find … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing, WhatEVAH!

Weirdest Retraction EVAH!

Posted on December 6, 2012 by

In the past, there has been some debate in the science bloggysphere about who should and should not be authors on scientific articles (e.g., this). Nonetheless, I think there is a low bar on which we can all agree. Consider … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing | 4 Comments

A Good Argument For Releasing Manuscript Reviews

Posted on October 24, 2012 by

Over at the NY Times, Mark Bittman has an interesting column about some research that demonstrates that conventional agriculture could massively reduce the use of pesticides and actually as profitable. What I found interesting was this bit (boldface mine): No … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing | 3 Comments

What Is the Purpose of Scientific Publication?

Posted on August 22, 2012 by

There has been a lot of discussion in the science bloggysphere about this post by Joe Pickrell (and see his related post for background) which discusses possible ways to improve scientific (that is, technical, not popular) communication. It’s interesting, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing | 4 Comments

Here’s a Good Way to Make Science Part of the Political Discourse

Posted on June 2, 2012 by

Instead of bemoaning how scientific issues are never raised except superficially, I humbly suggest we barge in and shove various issues, both large and small, onto the agenda. One smaller issue is open access for federally-funded research. So go here, … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing | 1 Comment

Why Do We Think Papers Are a Good Grant Success Metric?

Posted on May 22, 2012 by

Admittedly, I’m not sure what the alternative would be. But whenever discussions of NIH policy arise, inevitably these two figures by former NIGMS director Jeremy Berg showing a weak correlation between grant funding and paper output are raised. What I … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, NIH, Publishing | 2 Comments