Token‐curated registry in a scholarly journal: Can blockchain support journal communities?

In this paper, we propose a novel framework for a scholarly journal – a token‐curated registry (TCR). This model originates in the field of blockchain and cryptoeconomics and is essentially a decentralized system where tokens (digital currency) are used to incentivize quality curation of information. TCR is an automated way to create lists of any kind where decisions (whether to include N or not) are made through voting that brings benefit or loss to voters. In an academic journal, TCR could act as a tool to introduce community‐driven decisions on papers to be published, thus encouraging more active participation of authors/reviewers in editorial policy and elaborating the idea of a journal as a club. TCR could also provide a novel solution to the problems of editorial bias and the lack of rewards/incentives for reviewers. In the paper, we discuss core principles of TCR, its technological and cultural foundations, and finally analyse the risks and challenges it could bring to scholarly publishing.     

Is open access affordable? Why current models do not work and why we need internet‐era transformation of scholarly communications

Progress to open access (OA) has stalled, with perhaps 20% of new papers ‘born‐free’, and half of all versions of record pay‐walled; why? In this paper, I review the last 12 months: librarians showing muscle in negotiations, publishers’ Read and Publish deals, and funders determined to force change with initiatives like Plan S. I conclude that these efforts will not work. For example, flipping to supply‐side business models, such as article processing charges, simply flips the pay‐wall to a ‘play‐wall’ to the disadvantage of authors without financial support. I argue that the focus on OA makes us miss the bigger problem: today’s scholarly communications is unaffordable with today’s budgets. OA is not the problem, the publishing process is the problem. To solve it, I propose using the principles of digital transformation to reinvent publishing as a two‐step process where articles are published first as preprints, and then, journal editors invite authors to submit only papers that ‘succeed’ to peer review. This would reduce costs significantly, opening a sustainable pathway for scholarly publishing and OA. The catalyst for this change is for the reputation economy to accept preprints as it does articles in minor journals today.     

Radio in Paris: Can community stations survive?

The history of French noncommercial, community radio is traced in this article, and its current status in relationship to state‐owned and commercial radio is described. The author concludes that community stations have been put at a disadvantage through regulatory policy, especially in the relatively low power that has been assigned them, but that they play an important role by offering an alternative to the rationalized and bureau‐cratized services of Radio France and the commercial stations.     

For a few dollars more: a future for scholarly books in Australia?

Australia's universities have seen significant growth in government research funding, with more to come, but this is not reflected in the output of research monograph publications; structural barriers stand between creation and dissemination of research. This is especially a problem for those working on Australian topics. The author has proposed a new model for funding scholarly publishing in Australia, which may well be applicable to other countries: just a small proportion of the funds committed by the Australian government to research inputs could ensure the publication of research outputs. This would deliver major gains in impact and productivity for government, universities, and individual academics alike.     

Predatory journals: Who publishes in them and why?

This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study investigated where predatory/fake journals (PFJs) are founded, which countries’ researchers publish more frequently in PFJs, the identity of the editors of PFJs, why researchers publish in PFJs, and what factors encourage such publications. A survey and semi-structured follow-up interviews were used to collect data. The results indicate that the majority of PFJs are located in developing countries; 119 journals provided incorrect postal addresses; the greatest number of researchers who published in PFJs are from India, Nigeria, and Turkey, suggesting that most of the publications in PFJs are submitted by researchers in developing countries; the interviewed Turkish researchers submitted their articles to PFJs in pursuit of rapid academic promotion; the incentive allowance system encourages researchers to publish in PFJs; and the well-known “publish-or-perish” pressure and unawareness are other potential factors that drive participants to submit their papers to PFJs.     

How accurate are cited references in Iranian peer‐reviewed journals?

The references cited in scientific articles are as important as any other part of the paper, because of their usefulness to the scientific community and to abstracting and indexing services and citation databases. I studied inaccuracies in references and in‐text citations in sample of 97 of the 519 peer‐reviewed journals accredited by the Iranian National Commission for Journal Accreditation Policy (Ministry of Research, Science and Technology). The target journals published 2,980 articles with 74,577 cited references and 108,151 in‐text citations. The results showed 36.6% as the average percentage error rate (range 5.6% to 61.3%). The mean number of errors in cited reference and in‐text citations was 2.7 per article, and the mean number of errors per journal was 690. For the entire sample of articles, 4,369 in‐text citations did not match any source in the list of references (4%), and 8,683 cited references did not match any in‐text citation (11.6%). The stakeholders in scholarly communication, especially authors, pay insufficient attention to the accuracy of bibliographic references. Peer‐reviewed journals should encourage the use of standardized journal policies and quality‐control measures regarding peer review, data quality and accuracy.     

Is it worth establishing institutional repositories? The strategies for open access to Spanish peer‐reviewed articles

We examine open access to the Spanish scientific literature via investigation of a sample of peer‐reviewed articles in seven subject categories. Of the 28,259 papers published in 2000, 26.89% were freely accessible, with the share varying among disciplines. Articles in the social and behavioral sciences were the most widely available for free. This disciplinary divide applies also to the strategies used to offer open access to documents. In clinical medicine, life sciences, arts and humanities and social sciences open access was mainly based on the publishers' side, while subject‐based repositories were dominant in physical, chemical and earth sciences and deposit on homepages was the preferred strategy in engineering, computing and technology. Institutional and general repositories seem to play a minor role in providing free access to the Spanish peer‐reviewed literature. Papers published in commercial journals are less accessible than those that appear in non‐commercial journals, and we found overlaps in almost 20% of papers deposited. The fastest way to gain open access is to deposit in subject‐based repositories and the longest delays are related to deposits in homepages and especially to institutional repositories. Open access to Spanish peer‐reviewed articles is dominated by the passive mechanism of the “gold route” and the editorial strategy with self‐archiving practices in the minority and directed mainly towards subject‐based repositories and homepage posting of the papers. The results of this study could serve as a reference point for further study on the evolution of open access in Spain.     

Do they want it? Do they use it? The ‘Demand-Side’ of e-Government in Australia and New Zealand

Drawing on 435 telephone interviews in Australia and 498 in New Zealand, this paper investigates the ‘demand’ side of e-government. That is, we examine the use of and support for e-government measures. Whilst respondents were generally supportive of e-government on a number of measures, we find that the majority were reluctant to use some of the more sophisticated ‘transactional’ e-government measures, and less than half had even visited a government website. High users of information and communications technologies (ICT) were more likely to use e-government measures, and are more positive towards e-government in general across several measures. Similar to a number of U.S. studies, we find a ‘digital divide,’ where older age, and less education were associated with lower ICT and e-government use and support. Income level was not a statistically significant predictor in all cases however, and gender was not significant for e-government support.     

Do discounted journal access programs help researchers in sub‐Saharan Africa? A bibliometric analysis

Prior research has suggested that providing free and discounted access to the scientific literature to researchers in low‐income countries increases article production and citation. Using traditional bibliometric indicators for institutions in sub‐Saharan Africa, we analyze whether institutional access to TEEAL (a digital collection of journal articles in agriculture and allied subjects) increases: (i) article production; (ii) reference length; and (iii) number of citations to journals included in the TEEAL collection. Our analysis is based on nearly 20,000 articles – containing half a million references – published between 1988 and 2009 at 70 institutions in 11 African countries. We report that access to TEEAL does not appear to result in higher article production, although it does lead to longer reference lists (an additional 2.6 references per paper) and a greater frequency of citations to TEEAL journals (an additional 0.4 references per paper), compared to non‐subscribing institutions. We discuss how traditional bibliometric indicators may not provide a full picture of the effectiveness of free and discounted literature programs.     

Ranking journals: could Google Scholar Metrics be an alternative to Journal Citation Reports and Scimago Journal Rank?

The launch of Google Scholar Metrics as a tool for assessing scientific journals may be serious competition for Thomson Reuters' Journal Citation Reports, and for the Scopus‐powered Scimago Journal Rank. A review of these bibliometric journal evaluation products is performed. We compare their main characteristics from different approaches: coverage, indexing policies, search and visualization, bibliometric indicators, results analysis options, economic cost, and differences in their ranking of journals. Despite its shortcomings, Google Scholar Metrics is a helpful tool for authors and editors in identifying core journals. As an increasingly useful tool for ranking scientific journals, it may also challenge established journals products.     

Libraries and museums in the flat world: Are they becoming virtual destinations?

In his recent book, “The World is Flat”, Thomas L. Friedman reviews the impact of networks on globalization. The emergence of the Internet, web browsers, computer applications talking to each other through the Internet, and the open source software, among others, made the world flatter and created an opportunity for individuals to collaborate and compete globally. Friedman predicts that “connecting all the knowledge centers on the planet together into a single global network… could usher in an amazing era of prosperity and innovation”. Networking also is changing the ways by which libraries and museums provide access to information sources and services. In the flat world, libraries and museums are no longer a physical “place” only: they are becoming “virtual destinations”. This paper discusses the implications of this transformation for the digitization and preservation of, and access to, cultural heritage resources.     

Exploring geographic disparities in broadband access and use in rural southern Illinois: Who's being left behind?

Recent literature about broadband telecommunications reveals two major areas that are not only globally gaining prominence, but are also demanding urgent attention from a research perspective. One of the key areas is related to the need to spatially evaluate the availability and deployment of broadband services, especially among urban versus rural communities. Another area of interest falls under the need for enabling broadband policies and strategies that address existing geographic disparities. These motivating factors shaped this research and provided a basis for defining three specific objectives, namely: (1) to identify locations with or without broadband access, (2) to identify underserved rural and inner-city markets, and (3) to determine whether university and community college towns can be used in the adoption and dispersion of broadband technologies in southern Illinois. Supply-side and demand-side data were collected and inputted into a Geographic Information System (GIS). Supply-side data included cable modem, digital subscriber lines (DSL), wireless, and fiber optic lines, while demand data included reported broadband requests from individuals without access (n = 439), students (n = 45,866), and higher education workforce (n = 5419). Using the GIS and statistical techniques, insightful maps of broadband infrastructure were created to illustrate areas of supply and demand so that governments and businesses can address existing gaps in consumer needs. Specifically, different levels of broadband access and use were mapped; different under-served rural and inner-city markets were identified so as to emphasize the dramatic economic impact on the business opportunities available to small business entrepreneurs. Also, different geographies of use and accessibility of broadband connectivity in the study region were synthesized to support decision-making. The resulting maps provided supply and demand marketing intelligence based on the geographic analyses of residential and enterprise sectors. These data can be used as a model to develop specific policy recommendations for a knowledge-based economy, specifically for the southern Illinois region or other rural communities in the United States.