On the skewness of journal self‐citations and publisher self‐citations: Cues for discussion from a case study

This paper takes the cue from the case of a retracted paper, cited both by the retraction notice and by an article published later in the same journal. This led to analysis and discussion on the skewness of citations in the journal Sustainability and within Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) journals, particularly investigating self‐citations at journal and publisher levels. I analysed articles published by Sustainability in 2015 and found that self‐citations are higher than expected under a uniform probability distribution. Self‐citations in this journal make a 36% difference to the journal's impact factor. This research raises the question of what citation patterns can be expected as normal, and where the boundary between normal and anomaly lies. I suggest the issue deserves further investigation because self‐citations have several implications, ranging from impact factors to visibility and influence of scientific journals.     

E‐journals: developing country access survey

Concern over the information gap between developed and developing countries has led to a number of initiatives to promote access to information, but is there a potential of overlapping and conflicting information being given to the recipients? And what are publishers' attitudes towards the supply of their content at greatly reduced prices, or for free? During 2002 INASP was commissioned to undertake a survey to identify publishers' activities and opinions in this area. The survey found that the majority of respondents were involved in one or more access programmes and there was a willingness from both the commercial and the non‐commercial sector to provide their information in this way.     

E‐books in practice: the librarian's perspective

It has become unimaginable to provide information – particularly scientific information – without e‐books. They have become part of today's combination of media, which includes printed books and journals, e‐journals, e‐books, and databases. When e‐books first appeared on the market, librarians very quickly formulated their key requirements. The most important requirement is functionality: it must be possible to look through a book chapter by chapter, and also to get a quick overview of a comprehensive monograph. Usage arrangements, including concurrent usage and use for interlibrary loans, are also important. The use of uniform technical standards increases the acceptance of e‐books.     

Altmetric: enriching scholarly content with article‐level discussion and metrics

Scholarly content is increasingly being discussed, shared, and bookmarked online by researchers. Altmetric is a start‐up that focuses on tracking, collecting, and measuring this activity on behalf of publishers; here we describe our approach and general philosophy. Over the past year we have seen sharing and discussion activity around approximately 750,000 articles. The average number of articles shared each day grows by 5–10% a month. We look at examples of how people are interacting with papers online and at how publishers can collect and present the resulting data to deliver real value to their authors and readers.     

E‐learning: new opportunities in continuing professional development

The growth in professional learning is opening up many new opportunities for the application of e‐learning to the world of continuing professional development (CPD). CPD programmes require professionals to engage in annual programmes of professional development, and in some cases revalidation or recertification. To date, most of this activity has been off‐line. Increasingly, CPD requirements will be satisfied through the use of learning resources available on‐line or packaged into specially tailored e‐learning courses. Societies and professional associations – as the primary managers and coordinators of CPD programmes – are in a strong position to expand upon their existing Web‐based initiatives to deliver a new generation of e‐learning services to their members.     

Market‐oriented reform in Chinese scholarly publishing

The Chinese government initiated a policy of 'corporatization of cultural entities' in 2003. Most Chinese book publishing houses were required to complete this transformation by 2006 and journal publishers by 2012. Chinese academic publishers, who no longer receive any general subsidies and allowances from government, have struggled to survive since then. During the reform process, many Chinese journals charged their authors page fees, and academic book publishers raised the prices of their publications. The continuing existence of other subsidies, however, means that there is still a degree of dependency in the Chinese system, and it will take time for its academic publishers to grow into real market players and to enhance their competitiveness.     

E‐books and the academic market: the emerging supply chain

The supply chain that is now emerging in the electronic book market bears a striking resemblance to established supply chains in the paper book market. In this article, the author describes this emerging supply chain and what both publishers and booksellers need to do to secure their place within it.     

Why I value non‐profit society scholarly publishing

Key points

• The job of society publishers is to carry out the directives and achieve the goals set by the organization's elected and volunteer leaders.
• Society journals form an integral part of the work and outreach of the society and its mission.
• Scholarly societies help develop new findings and individual careers, and a publications outlet supports both of these activities.

     

E‐only journals: is it time to drop print?

This article is a revised version of a talk given at the ALPSP seminar of the same name in February 2005. The current state of play with electronic‐only (‘e‐only’) journals is reviewed, along with some data on the different ways print and electronic editions are used. The drivers for and against a move to e‐only journals are discussed, including economic and commercial issues, long‐term access and preservation, and the growing divergence between the capabilities of print and electronic journals.     

E‐journals,researchers — and the new librarians

This paper provides the results of a two‐year investigation into the use of e‐journals by the UK research community. Log analysis, questionnaires, interviews, and observation were used to collect the information. The results are presented in a FAQ format to make the key findings accessible. The main findings are that journals have become central to most disciplines, and that the e‐form has become the prime means of access. The results for history suggest that the old scholarly communication mantras (scientists primarily communicate through articles, historians through monographs) are rapidly breaking down. Indeed, all researchers seem addicted to journal content. Research without this resource now seems unthinkable; journals are a researcher's lifeblood. Gateway services, hugely popular in science, are re‐intermediating the broken chain between publisher and reader; they are the new librarians.     

Selling to the BRIC — Russia: scholarly e‐products and the Russian market

We present the history, a present‐day analysis and perspectives of the market for scholarly e‐resources (e‐journals, e‐books, etc) in Russia. Our study is based on 10 years' experience of the Russian national library consortium NEICON, which is one of the major players in the market. Indicators and trends of the economics, human resources, and scientific output of Russian science are presented. The NEICON consortium activities are described. The perspectives, peculiarities, and practicalities of entering the Russian market are outlined, as well as what a new publisher entrant might expect to achieve.     

Normative drift and self‐correction in scholarly book publishing: The case of Makerere University

University academics face multiple pressures to publish. These pressures emanate from contexts with different, often competing, social norms, which result in academics publishing for reasons that may run counter to accepted scientific practice. This paper asks what decisions are being taken by academics when it comes to their choice of scholarly book publisher. An analysis of books selected from more than 2,500 self‐reported scholarly publications produced by academics at Makerere University in Uganda from 2011 to 2017 shows that 31 scholarly books were published. Of these books, more than half (54%) were published by publishers that do not follow accepted scholarly publishing practice. Findings also show that there was a sharp decline in books published with suspect publishers in the second half of the 7‐year period. The article discusses possible reasons for the selection of suspect publishers and considers four factors that may account for the observable decline: (1) a cyclical downturn, (2) improved research management and reporting, (3) explication of the norms of science, and (4) self‐correction.     

The economics of scholarly journals: a case study on a society‐published journal

This article re‐examines the economics of publishing scholarly journals and illustrates the dilemma of publisher identity and publication format with a case study of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication's Media Management and Economics division. The study investigates the perceived interest and demand for a society‐published journal for the field of media management and economics and the preferred format for that journal – print or online. Results showed a divided opinion on the support of a society‐published journal and no consideration of the benefits or harms of journal publishing to the society. The print journal, though a desirable format for authors, is deemed uneconomical. The online journal is viewed as a feasible publication outlet, but its status as a prestigious journal is doubtful. Applications of scholarly journal publishing and economic models to the case are discussed.     

Data and scholarly publishing: the transforming landscape

This article sets the scene for the special issue on research data and publishing. Research data – that material commonly accepted by the scholarly community as required evidence for hypotheses and insights, for verification and/or reproducibility of experiments – has become an increasingly critical issue for publishers given recent developments in funders' mandates, technological advances, policymakers' interests, and so forth. I outline some of the recent initiatives that are responding to policy directives, particularly Project ODE, and consider how publishers are working with data and integrating their practices with other collaborative efforts. A summary of the new policies, products, and partnerships demonstrates that the onus is now with scholarly publishers to gain an understanding of these developments and how they are affecting fellow key stakeholders within the research communications ecosystem.