Impact Factors are beginning to look “normal” again as the pandemic publication spike fades, the NIH’s public access policy goes into effect, new court rulings do little to clarify questions about using copyrighted material for AI training, and Wiley posts positive financial results

The firing of the head of the US Copyright Office and the approval of the American Law Institute Restatement of Law concerning Copyright do not augur well for content producers. Also industry activity related to AI heats up with several announcements including new search tools and a new workflow tool for authors of clinical practice guidelines.

The NIH accelerates (and reframes) the Nelson Memo while the US government sends vaguely threatening letters to several journals. Meanwhile, China enters phase II of its journals Excellence Action Plan.

A new lawsuit aims to challenge the structure of the Big Deal. Chaos in the US federal government continues to impact scholarly research. AI-generated summaries are replacing traffic to publisher websites, while AI continues to edge into peer review. And bioRxiv finds a new home.

The new administration unleashes a flurry of executive orders and policy announcements. Ebooks continue the trend toward the subscriptionization of everything. Editorial services consolidate. A new (vague) Canadian OA policy. cOAlition S shuts down a service.

Chaos rules in the new US government administration. Is the Nelson Memo dead? Probably. Will Morressier + Molecular Connections provide new “hub and spoke” competitor with content intelligence? OA models evolve beyond the APC.

Changes in social media and the rise of AI means new content and marketing strategies are needed. Sage buys Mary Ann Liebert, India signs a nationwide Big Deal, and the final drafts of federal public access plans are released.

Will the Nelson Memo survive the incoming administration? A new report from MIT Press looks to build a research agenda for effective open science policy. eLife loses its Impact Factor. And are the scientific and publishing conversations moving over to Bluesky, and if so, does it matter?

Silverchair buys ScholarOne in an all-Charlottesville combination. Springer Nature IPOs at long last. Clarivate puts journals on hold while concerns are raised about others. A Plan S epilogue.

Will Springer Nature’s 3rd IPO attempt prove successful? S2O runs into turbulence as IWA ends offering. Atypon enters the fray as CDPs heat up in ScholComm. A class action suit against scholarly publishers? Plus which journals are the most likely to inflict paper cuts?