“Bundle of Sticks” and the Value of Interdependence: Building a Tools and Services Collective

In this article, we raise questions about how bundling and independence show up in the scholarly publishing industry today, both for large conglomerates and for smaller commercial and nonprofit players. We then contemplate what interdependence might look like and how it might help to transform academic publishing. We end with findings from the Next Generation Library Publishing (NGLP) project (2019-2022) and its Collaborative Frameworks Working Group regarding a set of initial steps that we believe publishers, tools, and service providers might take together towards developing a collective publishing framework for open source, values-aligned tools and services.

Progressive and Degenerative Journals: On the Growth and Appraisal of Knowledge in Scholarly Publishing

Despite continued attention, finding adequate criteria for distinguishing “good” from “bad”scholarly journals remains an elusive goal. In this essay, I propose a solution informed by thework of Imre Lakatos and his methodology of scientific research programmes (MSRP). I beginby reviewing several notable attempts at appraising journal quality – focusing primarily on theimpact factor and development of journal blacklists and whitelists. In doing so, I note theirlimitations and link their overarching goals to those found within the philosophy of science. Iargue that Lakatos’s MSRP and specifically his classifications of “progressive” and“degenerative” research programmes can be analogized and repurposed for the evaluation ofscholarly journals. I argue that this alternative framework resolves some of the limitationsdiscussed above and offers a more considered evaluation of journal quality – one that helpsaccount for the historical evolution of journal-level publication practices and attendantcontributions to the growth (or stunting) of scholarly knowledge. By doing so, the seemingproblem of journal demarcation is diminished. In the process I utilize two novel tools (themistake index and scite index) to further operationalize aspects of the MSRP.

Internationalisation in Scholarly Publishing in Croatia through the Lens of Bibliometric Overview of the Journal Društvena Istraživanja

The goal of this research is to shed additional light on the internationalisation of scholarly publishing in Croatia through research based on the bibliometric analysis of the journal Društvena Istraživanja (DI). The first part of this research is dedicated to bibliometric analysis of DI since its conception in 1992, while the second part discusses the internationalisation of scientific journals in Croatia, relying on the critical analysis of relevant literature and the bibliometric characteristics of DI. The results of this research call into question the relevance of the existing scientific publishing policy to contribute to quality research papers and their internationalisation. The research provides implications for both editorial and publishing policies, as well as science policies in general.

Publishing ESTS

In our previous editorial (Khandekar et al. 2021), we noted the blackboxing of scholarly publication infrastructure that we encountered when we assumed editorship of the journal. We outlined several aspects of infrastructuring that we have undertaken since, with an explicit goal of supporting transnational workflows and participation in ESTS. In this editorial, we continue describing our infrastructural work, highlighting especially the work of content production at ESTS. We also discuss the relevance of our infrastructural work for open access (OA) scholarly publishing.

Journal of Youth Development’s Stance on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access

The Journal of Youth Development is committed to ‎furthering diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in scholarly publishing. This Editor’s Note provides an overview of our ongoing resolve and collaborative process to review and shape policies and procedures to enhance our contributions to recognizing, valuing, and promoting racial equity, inclusion, and social justice.

The Savvy Academic

This book covers the process of writing for publication from start to finish—from selecting a topic and reviewing literature to working with coauthors, writing theoretical and review articles, and responding to editor and reviewer comments when revising manuscripts. Dr. Schwartz uses examples from his own scholarly publishing career and provides concrete advice for both early-career and more experienced writers. The book also covers important topics such as planning studies, managing and supervising data collection, retaining participants in longitudinal studies, data analytic ethics and conflicts of interest, and dealing with writer’s block. Dr. Schwartz provides guidance for writing journal articles, books, and book chapters, as well as for dealing with manuscripts that have been repeatedly rejected. He offers guidance for writing first drafts, editing drafts, incorporating coauthor feedback, and working with difficult or resistant coauthors. This book is a “how-to” in terms of writing for publication.

Future of Scholarly Publishing: A Perspective

The academic publication takes on an increasingly relevant place to shape, on the one hand, the scholar’s prestige, and on the other, the prestige of the institution to which he or she is attached. In addition, academic publishing is vital for the development of scientific knowledge and the contribution to the community. This paper analyzes several dimensions that may be central to academic publishing in the near future. To this end, in methodological terms, a qualitative approach was favored, namely through the documentary analysis of scientific writings that analyze this topic. The results of this analysis reveal that this is a process in constant and accelerated development, but there will have to be criteria and processes for selecting what is scientifically relevant from what is called “noise” in scientific publishing. Increasing quality will have to be a fundamental element in this process.