I dont publish in journals anymore unless there's a co-author who needs it. Most of my output is slides on slideshare.net/petermurrayrust. My main activity is building disruptive software. We are close to having an automatic reader of the scholarly literature.
I'm doing a talk today on climate Change and Migration. I'm also running a project on openVirus - scraping the worlds literature on viral epidemics and how to tackle them What would you like a talk on? Would be delighted. Can do this at short notice - days - e.g. next week? As you know I am an activist and see little value in the current scholpub industry. Latin America does it better. Can we Look back to the Scottish enlightenment and re-empower citizens to help us share knowledge? We can change the world if we want to. COVID is a decision point. Universities will be different. Let's get informatics students, not Elsevier, building the libraries of the future. P. On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 1:06 PM Valerie McCutcheon < valerie.mccutch...@glasgow.ac.uk> wrote: > Thanks for sharing Peter. Don't suppose you have anything published/grey > literature out there on this topic or fancy giving a short community > informal talk on your perspective? > > Valerie > > -----Original Message----- > From: goal-boun...@eprints.org <goal-boun...@eprints.org> On Behalf Of > goal-requ...@eprints.org > Sent: 10 June 2020 12:00 > To: goal@eprints.org > Subject: GOAL Digest, Vol 103, Issue 5 > > Send GOAL mailing list submissions to > goal@eprints.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > goal-requ...@eprints.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > goal-ow...@eprints.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than > "Re: Contents of GOAL digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: BioMedCentral 2020 (Peter Murray-Rust) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 9 Jun 2020 10:41:52 +0100 > From: Peter Murray-Rust <pm...@cam.ac.uk> > Subject: Re: [GOAL] BioMedCentral 2020 > To: "Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)" <goal@eprints.org> > Cc: "scholcomm-requ...@lists.ala.org" > <scholcomm-requ...@lists.ala.org>, Anqi Shi < > ashi...@uottawa.ca> > Message-ID: > < > cad2k14pwuck-cwwdjgauc_5zaoewxveswgnuquwhz0ycwpy...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Thank you Heather, > These are valuable figures that show that "Open Access" does not always > bring knowledge justice. > > I was involved with BMC nearly from the start - it broke new ground - > showed that "OA" could be profitable and sustainable. I was on the > Editorial Board of Journal of Cheminformatics from the start until I > resigned (on this issue) . The editors past and present are close friends > and colleagues and have been a primary force for innovation in chemistry. > > But the takeover by Springer has been ultra-capitalist and an example of > knowledge neocolonialism. From where I was I saw no positive support from > Springer. The editorial board were expected to pay all their expenses > including travelling to US for a "meeting", that was inadequately supported > by Springer (no minutes were kept). Springer provided effectively no > support. They may have provided some generic support for IECs, but in my > view minimal. I addressed all these concerns and got no reply. > > I guestimate (without evidence) that the "prices" are roughly > * 30% true "costs" (much larger than they should be because there is no > pressure) > * 30% corporate (branding, offices, etc.) > * 10% philanthropy (waivers) > * 30% direct to shareholders > > I therefore resigned with as much publicity (not much) that I could > generate. > > It is critical to realise that OA does not guarantee: > * knowledge justice > * global equality (in fact in companies like BMC it is divisive) > * innovation (commercial publishers have no incentive to innovate and this > is holding science/scholarship back massively). The lack of modern > technology means that data which should be used to validate science is > omitted or published as bitmaps. People die because of our current > publication processes. > > It seems clear to me that Editorial Boards and many Editors are > effectively sidelined by megapublishers, who create tech and processes that > benefit them, not the readers or the world. The plethora of arcane > publishers all competing to create different brands effectively destroys > much scientific knowledge. > > This will not be solved by COAS or similar schemes which will perpetuate > the problems above. > > The immediate answers lie in > * preprints (organised by trustable organisations, not publishers) > * in a few disciplines , regulated by scholarly societies but NOT > commercial publishers > * national publications (e.g. Ameli_CA, in Latin America) > * zero price community journals e.g. J Open Source Software, J Machine > Learning Research). > > This will make us (literally) a healthier world. > | > > > > > > On Mon, Jun 8, 2020 at 5:30 PM Heather Morrison < > heather.morri...@uottawa.ca> > wrote: > > > BioMedCentral (BMC) 2019 ? 2020 > > > > *by Anqi Shi & Heather Morrison* > > > > *Key points* > > > > - Open access commercial publishing pioneer BMC is now wholly owned by > > a private company with a portfolio including lines of business that > derive > > revenue from journal subscriptions, book sales, and textbook sales and > > rentals > > - Two former BMC fully OA journals, listed in DOAJ from 2014 ? 2018 as > > having CC-BY licenses, are now hybrid and listed on the Springer > website > > and have disappeared from the BMC website > > - 67% of BMC journals with APCs in 2019 and 2020 increased in price > > and 11% decreased in price. > > - Journals with price increases had a higher average APC in 2019, i.e. > > more expensive journals appear to be more likely to increase in > > price > > > > > > > > *Abstract* > > > > > > > > Founded in 2000, BioMedCentral (BMC) was one of the first commercial > > (OA) publishers and a pioneer of the article processing charges (APC) > > business model. BMC was acquired by Springer in 2008. In 2015, > > Springer was acquired by the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group in 2015 and > > became part of SpringerNature. In other words, BMC began as an OA > > publisher and is now one of the imprints or business lines of a > > company whose other lines of business include sales of journal > > subscriptions and scholarly books and textbook sales and rentals. Of > > the 328 journals actively published by BMC in 2020, 91% charge APCs. > > The average APC was 2,271 USD, an increase of 3% over 2019. An overall > > small increase in average APC masks substantial changes at the > > individual journal level. As first noted by Wheatley (2016), BMC price > > changes from one year to the next are a mix of increases, decreases, > > and retention of the same price. In 2020, 67% of the 287 journals for > > which we have pricing in USD for both 2019 and 2020 increased in > > price; 11% decreased in price, and 22% did not change price. It > > appears that it is the more expensive journals that are more likely to > > increase in price. The average 2019 price of the journals that > > increased in 2020 was > > 2,307 USD, 18% higher than the 2019 average of 1,948 USD for journals > > that decreased in price. 173 journals increased in price by 4% or > > more, well above the inflation rate. 39 journals increased in price by > > 10% or more; 13 journals increased in price by 20% or more. Also in > > 2020, there are 11 new journals, 11 journals ceased publication, 5 > > titles were transferred to other publishers, 2 journals changed from > > no publication fee to having an APC, and 3 journals dropped their > > APCs. Two journals formerly published fully OA by BMC are no longer > > listed on the BMC website, but are now listed as hybrid on the > > Springer website. This is a small portion of the total but is worth > > noting as the opposite direction of the transformative (from > subscriptions to OA) officially embraced by SpringerNature. > > > > For links to the full PDF and data: > > > > https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2020/06/08/biomedcentral-2020/ > > > > > > Cite as: Shi, A. & Morrison, H. (2020). BioMedCentral 2020. > > *Sustaining the Knowledge Commons*. > > https://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2020/06/08/biomedcentral-2020/ > > > > Dr. Heather Morrison > > > > Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, University of > > Ottawa > > > > Cross-appointed, Department of Communication > > > > Professeur Agr?g?, ?cole des Sciences de l'Information, Universit? > > d'Ottawa > > > > Principal Investigator, Sustaining the Knowledge Commons, a SSHRC > > Insight Project > > > > sustainingknowledgecommons.org > > > > heather.morri...@uottawa.ca > > > > https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/?lang=en#/members/706 > > > > [On research sabbatical July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2020] > > _______________________________________________ > > GOAL mailing list > > GOAL@eprints.org > > http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal > > > > > -- > "I always retain copyright in my papers, and nothing in any contract I > sign with any publisher will override that fact. You should do the same". > > Peter Murray-Rust > Reader Emeritus in Molecular Informatics Unilever Centre, Dept. Of > Chemistry University of Cambridge > CB2 1EW, UK > +44-1223-763069 > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/pipermail/goal/attachments/20200609/0ec5a67f/attachment-0001.html > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > GOAL mailing list > GOAL@eprints.org > http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal > > > End of GOAL Digest, Vol 103, Issue 5 > ************************************ > > _______________________________________________ > GOAL mailing list > GOAL@eprints.org > http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal > -- "I always retain copyright in my papers, and nothing in any contract I sign with any publisher will override that fact. You should do the same". Peter Murray-Rust Reader Emeritus in Molecular Informatics Unilever Centre, Dept. Of Chemistry University of Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK +44-1223-763069
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