Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:12AM   Printer-friendly
from the $ dept.

Editorial Mutiny at Elsevier Journal

The entire editorial board of the Elsevier-owned Journal of Informetrics resigned Thursday in protest over high open-access fees, restricted access to citation data and commercial control of scholarly work.

Today, the same team is launching a new fully open-access journal called Quantitative Science Studies. The journal will be for and by the academic community and will be owned by the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics (ISSI). It will be published jointly with MIT Press.

The editorial board of the Journal of Informetrics said in a statement that they were unanimous in their decision to quit. They contend that scholarly journals should be owned by the scholarly community rather than by commercial publishers, should be open access under fair principles, and publishers should make citation data freely available.

Elsevier said in a statement that it regretted the board's decision and that it had tried to address their concerns.

"Since hearing of their concerns, we have explained our position and made a number of concrete proposals to attempt to bridge our differences," Tom Reller, vice president of global communications at Elsevier, said in a statement. "Ultimately they decided to step down and we respect that decision and wish them the best in their future endeavors."

Elsevier's response to the board's requests can be accessed in full here.

This is not the first time the editorial board of an Elsevier-owned journal has quit to start a competing journal. In 2015, the editorial board of top linguistics journal Lingua made headlines by leaving their posts and announcing plans to start a rival open-access publication called Glossa.

Like Lingua, the Journal of Informetrics is considered one of the top journals in its field. It was started in 2007 and focuses on research of measures used to assess the impact of academic research, including bibliometrics, scientometrics, webometrics and altmetrics.


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:18AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:18AM (#787791)

    The editorial board of the Journal of Informetrics said in a statement that they were unanimous in their decision to quit. They contend that scholarly journals should be owned by the scholarly community rather than by commercial publishers, should be open access under fair principles, and publishers should make citation data freely available.

    Did they just realize this or what? How did they become editors of the journal without realizing what was going on?

    • (Score: 0, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:33AM (1 child)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:33AM (#787792) Homepage Journal

      If I was Tom I'd make sure none of them ever work in Publishing again. It's called the Black List, folks. And it works very well!!!

      • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Thursday January 17 2019, @04:39PM

        by vux984 (5045) on Thursday January 17 2019, @04:39PM (#787927)

        "If I was Tom I'd make sure none of them ever work in Publishing again. It's called the Black List, folks. And it works very well!!"

        It's hard to stop them from getting hired in the industry when they up and form their own business.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:31AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:31AM (#787850)

      I dislike the tone of the comments so far, as they sound a bit troll-ish (assumption of sour grapes/other shortcoming on the board's part). A little research shows that there's been some ongoing concerns. Example: the Article Publication Charge (APC), which is what the publisher charges the content creator if they want to make their content available elsewhere. From all appearances, the amount charged was increased sharply in mid-2018. This could be part of the board's concerns. (I can't validate this because I wasn't there. However, it's possible.)

      Given that both the board and the publisher have made neutral statements, it's best to not make derogatory statements about either party. Otherwise, Soylent becomes part of the rage-machine.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @04:27PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @04:27PM (#787920)

        these people's field of work is to measure and grade other scientists based on the number of clicks their article gets (it's right there in the summary: "webometrics").
        I say both the board and the publisher can go to hell, I have actual work to do.
        who the hell funds their "research", anyway?

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday January 17 2019, @03:18PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 17 2019, @03:18PM (#787896) Journal

      Did they just realize this or what? How did they become editors of the journal without realizing what was going on?

      $There $hurely mu$t have$ been $ome rea$$on why thi$ principle wa$ initially overlooked$$$.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:38AM (13 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:38AM (#787793) Journal

    Awesome. Many people bitch and moan about evil monopolists, then go crawling back for more, think they haven't got a choice, can't live without the product or service. And then there are those deluded but willing slaves *cough* Apple fanbois *cough* who love their masters.

    If any group ought to have the wits and guts to see they're getting a raw deal and throw off their chains, scientists are it. One would hope this spirit would extend to writers of SF, but it seems fiction was never as big a screwing as academic publishing is.

    • (Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday January 17 2019, @09:07AM

      by driverless (4770) on Thursday January 17 2019, @09:07AM (#787828)

      The journal will be for and by the academic community and will be owned by the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics

      Not to be confused with the International Society for Informetrics and Scientometrics, who have been getting some bad press recently about their recruiting efforts in the middle east.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:54AM (11 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:54AM (#787854)

      Sticking to your principles is hard when your evil overlord pays your mortgage. It doesn't matter if you're a scientist or a janitor. I'm glad these people took a stand, but I have a lot of sympathy for others in similar situations that simply couldn't afford to do the same.

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday January 17 2019, @03:23PM (5 children)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 17 2019, @03:23PM (#787898) Journal

        I was going to say something very similar.

        Money is so powerful of a corrupter that it corrupts our entire government and other governments. Even people who run for office and have honest intention to stick to their principles and be a public servant can't stay uncorrupted for very long.

        Entire police departments have been corrupt. Prison wardens and/or guards.

        A little money leaveneth the entire loaf.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @06:04PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @06:04PM (#787962)

          I hate to piss on your parade, but the amount of money the editorial board of these journals get is the same as the amount that Trump is paying the air traffic controllers right now.

          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday January 17 2019, @09:16PM (1 child)

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 17 2019, @09:16PM (#788028) Journal

            They were getting paid to do their job at Elsevier-owned Journal of Informetrics. That is money. To stand up for their own principles and no longer get this paycheck was a bold and commendable move. Money can be a powerful influence.

            What am I missing?

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @04:54AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @04:54AM (#788145)

              Typically editors of academic journals are not paid for what they do. Not sure if this is the case here - do you know these were paid positions or are you just assuming?

        • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday January 17 2019, @10:21PM (1 child)

          by captain normal (2205) on Thursday January 17 2019, @10:21PM (#788047)

          Didn't somebody say something like this a long time ago? "The love of money is the root of all evil."

          --
          When life isn't going right, go left.
          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:12PM

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:12PM (#788066) Journal

            Yes. And also that eye of a needle thing.

            Another one I think of is 2 Peter 2:14 [biblegateway.com]

            > . . . they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed . . .

            Hmmm, that sounds like MBAs or Cxx's maybe?

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:33PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:33PM (#787949)

        that's called being a whore. fuck your job, you goddamn cowards. this is why the whole nation/world is going to shit. people think "muh jerb" is a reasonable excuse. it's not, you dishonest sycophants.

        • (Score: 3, Touché) by AssCork on Thursday January 17 2019, @07:15PM

          by AssCork (6255) on Thursday January 17 2019, @07:15PM (#787995) Journal

          How's furlough treating you?

          --
          Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
        • (Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Friday January 18 2019, @04:10PM (2 children)

          by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Friday January 18 2019, @04:10PM (#788279)

          That's called needing to eat. Capitalism makes whores of us all.

          • (Score: 2) by AssCork on Friday January 18 2019, @06:37PM (1 child)

            by AssCork (6255) on Friday January 18 2019, @06:37PM (#788350) Journal

            Could always hunt, preserve meat for the winter months. But then again vegans don't really "eat" in the traditional sense, either. Pretty sure they just drink water and complain a lot.

            --
            Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
            • (Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Friday January 18 2019, @10:32PM

              by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Friday January 18 2019, @10:32PM (#788451)

              Nice. The owner of a vegan restaurant nearby shared on social media a post with the caption, "When you haven't told anyone you're a vegan in more than five minutes" and a gif of a person tensing up, turning red, and then exploding in a ball of fire.

              But for what it's worth, my vegan friends don't bring it up unless we're going to a restaurant that has absolutely nothing they can eat. I am not a vegan, I had eggs and meat yesterday. But I went to the vegan place for lunch and had a hoagie with a black bean pattie, onions, peppers, corn, olives, vegan cheese (which honest to goodness isn't that far off America), on a hoagie roll and a strawberry banana smoothie (water, strawberries, bananas, ice, nothing else). It's not bad food, I could live off it.

  • (Score: 2) by aim on Thursday January 17 2019, @07:04AM (1 child)

    by aim (6322) on Thursday January 17 2019, @07:04AM (#787807)

    [Elsevier made] "concrete proposals" - is that concrete as in road blocks, to make sure the "silly" ideas, which go diametrally against all Elsevier stands for (*cough*), didn't go anywhere?

    Well done, really well done...

    • (Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday January 17 2019, @09:04AM

      by driverless (4770) on Thursday January 17 2019, @09:04AM (#787826)

      No, it's concrete as in concrete overcoat. This is Elsevier we're talking about here, not Lulu's Vegan Cafe and Bookshop.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:28PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @05:28PM (#787948)

    never expected this sort of thing to happen. wish them luck.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @06:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @06:23PM (#787972)

    I really hope this new journal succeeds and the previous one fails. People have been complaining about the absurdity of the current scientific journal system, where the journals do barely any work, get paid tons of money, and keep knowledge locked behind paywalls.

    Here are a group of people who, at substantial personal risk, are doing something about it. It's non-trivial to have the courage of your convictions like this.

    With luck, this will be the spark that starts something new and better in academic literature.

(1)