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Rats!

Issue 62 • February 2024

An impressive rat brings research integrity to the news. What will US open data policies really cost? RELX’s balance sheet shows strong results. A court rules against authors in an AI fair use case. New Clarivate changes, gaming Google Scholar is easier than ever, and physics societies join forces.

Peak Special Issue?

Issue 61 • January 2024

The financial impacts of research integrity and the precariousness of the author-pays model. Did OA really speed the Covid response? Is there really an OA oligopoly? Also, publishers turn out to be good at publishing.

Gemini

Issue 60 • December 2023

Google’s Gemini AI ingests the OA literature with uncertain implications for publisher licensing. Wiley’s new deal with DEAL offers a better approach to tiered pricing. We bid farewell to the Hindawi brand. Open Research Europe hits crossroads. A look ahead to the new Chinese Journal Early Warning List.

Dress Rehearsal

Issue 59 • November 2023

The near-implosion of OpenAI is first and foremost a story about not-for-profit governance. OSTP appears to have developed an economic analysis for Congress except for the economic analysis part. A new proposal from cOAlition S is more radical than Plan S. And DOAJ cracks down on special issues but the new rules may catch more than they intended.

Strategic Combination

Issue 58 • October 2023

Consolidation comes to the Humanities as De Gruyter acquires Brill. Measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing is not as simple as it may seem. Turnover at eLife and Wiley, unfavorable omens for the UC’s multi-payer model, and proof that OA really works (at least for driving commercial development).

Out of Reach

Issue 57 • September 2023

Elsevier and Germany strike a transformative agreement, but is it a fair deal for their society journals? ACS has a busy month, buying ChronosHub and introducing a new author charge aimed at the Rights Retention Strategy. Also, happy 5th birthday to Plan S.

Progress

Issue 56 • August 2023

Have Frontiers and MDPI slowed their growth? A look at this year’s numbers would suggest so. Plus, seemingly every bibliometric database announces an AI assistant, the USDA’s public access plan, AI continues to ruin everything, and the Vickers Curse is finally solved.

Control-F Bomb

Issue 55 • July 2023

Will the OSTP’s Nelson Memo fall victim to Congress’s war on “woke”? Has cOAlition S changed its mind about APCs? Academic editors continue to revolt against open access. This year’s crop of JIFs is harvested.

Untransformed

Issue 54 • June 2023

Is the Plan S Transformative Journals program a disaster or a great success? How (and in what fields) has China’s research grown in volume and quality? Plus, journal supercontinents continue to evolve.

Diamond

Issue 53 • May 2023

The EU sets an aspirational new course for diamond OA. Meanwhile, the reality of OA policies begins to impact researchers and editorial boards. A new claim that huge amounts of the literature are bogus turns out to be bogus itself.