Category Archives: Uncategorized

We are all now judged by citations? But what *IS* a citation? It’s not easy to answer… and it may not be quite what you think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation gives: Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source … Continue reading →

Quite by chance I have just received an update of a review I did for [a gold open access scientific journal]. I omit all confidential info: Dear Dr. Murray-Rust, Thank you for your review of this manuscript.  The Editor has … Continue reading →

I posted yesterday about an article in PLoS ONE where I criticized the author/editor/publisher for destroying semantic data. /pmr/2011/07/16/how-to-share-data-and-how-not-to/ It has generated 11 replies and you should read them before this post so as to get all points of view. … Continue reading →

I have been pointed to a paper in PLoSONE on Data sharing http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0021101 I haven’t read the text but I am afraid I have to comment adversely on the way the data are presented. Because it illustrates a fundamental reason … Continue reading →

NOTE: You may find my allegory of “Monsters of the Id” as irrelevant to scholarly publishing. If so, skip this. But do not doubt that scholarly publishing needs changing – drastically and soon and that I, at least, am committed … Continue reading →

I got the following SPAM (unsolicited bulk mail) today. (There seems to be an assumption that SPAM for conferences, journals, etc, is OK. It’s not. It wastes my time and leads to errors. If I get (say) 5 invitations a … Continue reading →

I asked a simple question: “What is the single raison d’etre of the Journal Impact Factor in 2011?” And have had two useful answers: Zen Faulkes says: July 15, 2011 at 12:19 pm  For me, it’s to ensure that the … Continue reading →

I’m starting all these posts with “What’s wrong with Scholarly publishing?”. That’s because I am getting feedback, which includes young researchers who are following them, and libraries/academics who wish to use them as resources material. I’ll note that I do … Continue reading →

  I publish in full an unsolicited comment, which expresses exactly why closed access publishing has become unacceptable.   Bill Roberts says: July 14, 2011 at 8:00 am  As a non-academic but occasional reader of published academic papers, the current … Continue reading →

While waiting for feedback (and there’s a good discussion on Friendfeed) here’s a (probably rosy-tinted) ramble through history… I started my research almost 50 years ago and did my doctorate in 2 years (required for chemistry as we had a … Continue reading →