The Brief

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.

Are we in the VUCA era of scholarly communication? China’s Early Warning List. Submission and peer review systems and AX: Optimistic yet dull with a whiff of Apple?

Wiley has a rough day in the market in wake of suspending Hindawi’s special issue program. Clarivate delists 50 journals, including 19 from Hindawi and the world’s second largest journal (from MDPI). We also discuss the role of a flagship journal, AI and content licensing, an attempted coup at eLife, open access regret, and more this month in The Brief.

Springer Nature ends deposit of articles in PubMed Central, NIH’s new public access policy, cOAlition S ends support for Transformative Journals, and the RRS tries to route around prohibitions. Plus, gender diversity on editorial boards and whether ChatGPT can “author” a paper.

Was this month’s issue of The Brief written by ChatGPT? Find out within. Springer Nature ramps up its acquisitions and the first post-Nelson Memo public access policy from a US federal agency is released.

Wiley spins off its services into a stand-alone division, but where will it find customers? MDPI’s relentless optimization for market conditions continues. Publishers are embracing sustainability topics as SDG-related scientific outputs are rapidly increasing. And a look at the numbers from this month’s RELX investor seminar.

eLife’s bold experiment attempts to change research journals into review services. Springer Nature offers its first-ever report on high level financial performance. cOAlition S launches its Journals Comparison Service. De Gruyter acquires Ubiquity Press. And an update on the OSTP’s Nelson Memo.

Silverchair announces a major investment from Thompson Street Capital Partners (TSCP). The central tension in OA publishing comes to the fore with the resignation of four editors of a prominent journal. The new OSTP open science policy continues to dominate the conversation. Firms focusing on Author Experience (AX) are gaining competitive advantage over those that are moving more slowly.

This special single-topic issue of The Brief analyzes the August 2022 public access memorandum issued by the US Office of Science and Technology Policy. We review the memorandum itself, its accompanying impact statement, and its likely implications for publishers and societies.

The Lancet’s long-term strategies come to fruition. Clarivate simultaneously expands the impact factor (to more journals) while reducing it (down to a single decimal place). Does success in scholarly communications require disruption?