The idea that universities should return to their “core business” of teaching and research has become a favourite mantra of vice chancellors. It is reinforced by increasing evaluations imposed by Canberra…
Universities already stockpile academic papers so they can report their output to the government. But stockpiling the wrong version of the paper can restrict their right to make the paper available on open access.
Flickr/Gideon Burton
Providing equitable access to the findings of scholarly research is an expensive and vexed business, as many recent stories here on The Conversation have highlighted.
Open access offers a way to freely…
Frustration with copyright restrictions placed on scholarly work in many journals has helped fuel the Creative Commons and Open Access movements.
Flickr/TilarX
By Tom Cochrane, Queensland University of Technology
Back in 1991, in the very earliest days of the internet, a group of high energy physicists began sharing their findings on a Los Alamos-based online archive called Arxiv.
Their early experiments in the…
A growing number of academic institutions are building free online databases of their scholarly output. But publication in a big name academic journal still holds cachet for most academics.
Flickr/mandiberg
As the cost of accessing academic journal articles increases, a growing number of academic institutions are building publicly accessible databases of scholarly work.
But how much of a threat to the traditional…
How does the high cost of academic journal subscriptions impact the developing world?
Flickr/Book Aid International
Universities libraries in the developed world are struggling to pay academic journal subscription costs — so how can universities in developing countries hope to pay?
In this Q+A, Professor Adam Habib…
Publishing practices in the biomedical and social sciences commonly fails to conform to Australian codes of practice.
AAP
In February, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Kim Carr said Australian taxpayers could be confident the research activities they fund meet the “highest ethical and moral standards…
Does the cost of academic journals stymie learning?
Flickr/the.Firebottle
The phrase ‘publish or perish’ is familiar to all academics, who face enormous pressure to have their work featured in the top academic journals. Career progression, job security and pay rises can depend…
Kim Carr has canned the journal rankings system: but what should be next?
AAP
There was much celebrating around Australia’s university campuses when the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr announced changes to the “Excellence in Research for…
When is comes to research, it seems quantity has become much more important than quality.
Flickr/Iscan
Imagine the following conversation between a finance academic and his or her supervisor during an annual performance review:
Academic: So, do you think I am ready for a promotion?
Supervisor: Well, I…
