Nature Special:"The Future of Publishing"

The fact that NPG has published a special on "The Future of Publishing" shows that change is underway. The special gives a balanced view including M. Eisen's views (as reported by Van Noorden The True Cost of Science Publishing ) but naturally the message that they wish to convey is in the last (concluding) article in the series.

“As a young investigator you have to do what's economically viable,” says Stephen Macknik, a neuroscientist at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. Paying an article-processing charge for a reputable open-access journal may be a good middle ground for young researchers, he says.
But scientists shouldn't sacrifice funding that was meant for research. “To maximize their competitiveness it is vital that young researchers maintain a productive profile of high-quality research, and this means using research funds to do as much high-quality research as possible,” says Chambers. “It falls to the more senior scientists to change the system.”

EDITORIAL

• Disciplinary action

  How scientists share and reuse information is driven by technology but shaped by discipline.

  Nature ( 28 March 2013 )

NEWS

• Sham journals scam authors

  Con artists are stealing the identities of real journals to cheat scientists out of publishing fees.

  Nature ( 28 March 2013 )

NEWS FEATURES

• The true cost of science publishing

  Cheap open-access journals raise questions about the value publishers add for their money.

  Nature ( 28 March 2013 )

• The library reboot

  As scientific publishing moves to embrace open data, libraries and researchers are trying to keep up.

  Nature ( 28 March 2013 )

• The dark side of publishing

  The explosion in open-access publishing has fuelled the rise of questionable operators.

  Nature ( 28 March 2013 )

COMMENT

• Beyond the paper

  The journal and article are being superseded by algorithms that filter, rate and disseminate scholarship as it happens, argues Jason Priem.

  Nature ( 28 March 2013 )

• A fool's errand

  Objections to the Creative Commons attribution licence are straw men raised by parties who want open access to be as closed as possible, warns John Wilbanks.

  Nature ( 28 March 2013 )

• How to hasten open access

  Three advocates for a universally free scholarly literature give their prescriptions for the movement’s next push, from findability to translations.

  Nature ( 28 March 2013 )

BOOKS AND ARTS

• Q&A: Knowledge liberator

  Robert Darnton heads the world's largest collection of academic publications, the Harvard University Library system. He is also a driver behind the new Digital Public Library of America. Ahead of its launch in April, he talks about Google, science journals and the open-access debate.

  Nature ( 28 March 2013 )

CAREERS

• Open to possibilities

  Opting for open access means considering costs, journal prestige and career implications.

  Nature ( 28 March 2013 )