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Journalology

James Butcher

The Journalology newsletter helps editors and publishing professionals keep up to date with scholarly publishing, and guides them on how to build influential scholarly journals.

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Journalology #75: Editor diversity

Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, There’s a strong DEI theme to this week’s issue, with reports from Springer Nature (on editorial board diversity) and C4DISC (on workplace equity) released this week. The newsletter also includes a fascinating map of the biomedical publishing landscape, a primer on COUNTER, and a discussion of F1000’s recently revised editorial model. Thank you to our sponsor, Digital Science In late 2023, Digital Science fully acquired Writefull, which...

4 days ago • 16 min read

Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, This week’s issue of Journalology covers the STM Trends 2028 report, a new journals programme from Harvard University, and a preprint that suggests that preprints get a citation advantage. Thank you to our sponsor, Digital Science In late 2023, Digital Science fully acquired Writefull, which provides AI-powered language and metadata solutions to streamline every stage of the publishing workflow - including triaging, copy editing, quality...

10 days ago • 12 min read

Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, Two years ago I quit my corporate job and started work on Journalology. Many friends and colleagues thought I’d gone slightly mad. If you want to know more about the person who sends you these emails every week, Science Editor has just published the transcript of a conversation I had with Jonathan Schultz earlier this year. We discussed why I decided to leave Springer Nature, how editors and publishers differ in their approach to scholarly...

18 days ago • 14 min read

Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, This newsletter is landing in your inbox a few days later than initially planned, for various family and technology related reasons. My apologies. I took some time off over the Easter break, so I didn’t send a newsletter last week. This week’s edition covers the period from April 1 to April 14. Thank you to our sponsor, Cassyni What’s the secret to sustainable submission growth in 2024? Thriving journal communities. Learn more about why...

22 days ago • 14 min read

Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, It’s been a slow news week, with the biggest story being a vague announcement from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation about a new open access policy, which will go live at the start of next year. I’ll be taking some time off over the Easter break and so issue 72 of this newsletter will arrive in your inbox 2 weeks from now. Thank you to our sponsor, Cassyni What’s the secret to sustainable submission growth in 2024? Thriving journal...

about 1 month ago • 15 min read

Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, This week the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) published its proposed open access policy for REF 2029; there was uproar about how the proposal could affect academics working in the humanities who publish books, but very little noise about the effects the OA proposal could have on UK researchers who publish in journals. But before we get to that story, here’s a message from Cassyni, which is kindly supporting the newsletter over the...

about 2 months ago • 15 min read

Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, Improving research integrity is front and centre of everyone’s mind at the moment, as this week’s newsletter makes crystal clear. Wiley announced a new paper mill detection service last week and The Wall Street Journal ran a story about image manipulation. The lead story in the Opinion section is the latest episode in a spat between a publisher and a group of academics, which is both entertaining and unedifying in equal measure. Thank you...

about 2 months ago • 13 min read

Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, This week’s newsletter kicks off with three stories of company acquisitions and finishes by considering what it might be like to be rejected by a robot editor in 2034. If you enjoy this newsletter, please forward it on to your colleagues. Even better, be the first person in 2024 to add a contribution to the Testimonial Wall. Share and enjoy! Thank you to our sponsor, Kotahi by Coko Engage your scholarly community with Kotahi's intuitive...

about 2 months ago • 13 min read

Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, This week we start off with an assessment of eLife’s new editorial model and finish with an excerpt from what may well be the most interesting academic conference of the year. Thank you to our sponsor, Kotahi by Coko Elevate your publishing standards with Kotahi, ensuring compliance and interoperability in the digital age. Our platform supports growth, making your content more accessible and impactful. Join us in leading the open access...

2 months ago • 16 min read

Subscribe to newsletter Hello fellow journalologists, On Thursday I’ll be taking part in a webinar, hosted by ChronosHub, entitled “improving manuscript transfers for authors”. I plan to use my 5 minute slot at the start of the panel discussion to explain why portfolio strategies are so important for publishers. The hardest part is getting the editorial teams across the transfer cascade to prioritise the needs of the portfolio over their own journal. Or, put another way, editors should always...

2 months ago • 14 min read
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