SSP quarterly LP update

We have two outstanding new issues of Learned Publishing now out – an abundant harvest for your fall-time reading!

Our October issue doesn’t shy away from controversy and tackles some big topics facing our industry:

• Editorial: A sting in the tail? – can we trust our authors, and can anyone trust us?
• Developing an OA monograph program – what can UCL’s approach teach us about what data is available to inform
• French researcher attitudes on open access – an examination of mathematics, biology and computer science scholars asks: do they care?
• Perceptions of Iranian scholars on their publishing strategies – can we blame them for what appear to be ‘dodgy’ strategies?
• Editorial challenges – how do Croatian editors control quality and confront challenges from their environment?
• Drug advertising in medical journals – how do marketing claims made by pharmaceutical companies impact the editorial quality of the publications that run them?
• Early career journal publishing experiences – do inexperienced authors struggle with peer review?
• Evaluating the accessibility of journal article PDFs – how well are we doing in an era of WCAG 2.0 standards?
• Alternative impact metrics for open access publishing – are they truly alternative, reproducible impact factors?
• Regional impact metrics – is the Impact Factor meaningless in low income countries?
• Reviews of industry reports on the challenges for data sharing by researchers and blockchain for research

The 2nd special issue dedicated to academic publishing and university presses was released in September. Addressing challenges and opportunities for university presses, all papers in this issue arose from topics explored at the second University Press Redux conference hosted by UCL Press and ALPSP at the British Library in February 2018:

• ‘Feisty and febrile academic publishing’: University Press Redux II is introduced in this editorial by guest editors Anthony Cond and Lara Speicher
• The academic eBook ecosystem reinvigorated is a perspective from the USA by Charles Watkinson of University of Michigan Press
• The African university presses are discussed and the institutional logic of the knowledge commons
• Pierre Mounier asks: Is the university press environment a ‘Publication favela’ or showing bibliodiversity?
• Amy Brand discusses the MIT Press and the future of university-based publishing
• In her analysis of a survey of US presses, Lisa Bayer of Georgia shows wide range of strategies at play, all requiring alignment to achieve their missions
• Edinburg University Press: From a department to a subsidiary business
• Jane Winters ask: What does an author want from a university publisher?
• Finally, we look at Decoupling the academic book

Happy reading!

Lettie Y. Conrad
North American Editor
Learned Publishing

NOTE: All articles are free to SSP members and journal subscribers; those editorials, reviews and articles using the ‘ALPSP Author Choice’ OA option, are now free to all. The journal is now live on the new Wiley platform, so come have a tour of our new site. SSP members – please log in to the member center on the SSP website to access the full content. Also, be sure to sign up to receive an email alert or RSS feed every time a new issue goes online.