"The Quest to Topple Science-Stymying Academic Paywalls

The Quest to Topple Science-Stymying Academic Paywalls

Wired Top Stories by Joi Ito  / 

Scientific publishers charge so much that even Harvard can’t afford it anymore. A new publishing infrastructure could help.

"New Scientist calls for the end of the scholarly publishing industry: "more profitable than oil," "indefensible"

New Scientist calls for the end of the scholarly publishing industry: "more profitable than oil," "indefensible"

 Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow  

In a stirring unsigned editorial, the New Scientist calls the scholarly publishing industry "indefensible," noting that the business of publishing tax-funded research and then selling it to tax-funded institutions has produced the most profitable industry in the world, where 40% margins dwarf those commanded by oil or finance.

"Why For-Profit Academic Publishers Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank

Why For-Profit Academic Publishers Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank

 Boing Boing 

If you’re not an academic or scientist, then you probably have no idea how off kilter research scholarship has become. 

"Academic publishing is a mess and it makes culture wars dumber

Academic publishing is a mess and it makes culture wars dumber

 Boing Boing by Rob Beschizza 

In 1996, physicist Alan Sokal suspected that cultural studies lacked academic rigor. So he wrote an intentionally nonsensical paper, Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity, and submitted it for publication in the respected academic journal Social Text. It was accepted.