Is Academic Research Getting Commoditized?
What Is Commoditization?
In the business world, commoditization starts to occur in the latter stages of a product's life cycle (the so-called "golden years"). Consumers no longer…
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Does it Matter When You Analyze Your Research Data?
It’s safe to say that there is no research without data. It can be good, bad, or inconclusive, and we pay very close attention to both the methodologies by which it is collected…
Using Big Data for Research
What is Big Data?
Growing concern over how much data is available to researchers and the potential for what we can do with all of that data is arguably one of the hottest topics…
The Economics of Open Access Publishing
A Decade of Exponential Growth
According to the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), at present, there are over 10,000 fully open access (OA) peer-reviewed scholarly journals…
Does Academic Publishing Need Net Neutrality?
What Is Net Neutrality?
The foundation of the Internet was laid by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in the late 1960s, when a communications network was created…
Can the METRICS Center Save Science?
METRICS: A Little Backdrop
In 2005, the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine journal published a paper by Greek researcher Dr. John Ioannidis entitled “Why most published…
Are Research Libraries Failing in Their Mission?
A Changing Mission
Research libraries have long considered their primary user base to be the students and faculty of the institution that funds their existence. Over time,…
Does Research Need a Chief Science Advisor?
Europe’s First CSA
At the beginning of 2012, Professor Anne Glover, a Scottish molecular biologist at the University of Aberdeen and former Chief Science Advisor (CSA) for…
The Dangers of Research Patents
What’s the Purpose of A Patent?
A patent is a legal title granting any person who “invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter,…
Open Access: Does Less Equal More?
Bringing Research to the Masses
As it reaches its fifteenth birthday, it may still be too early to speak of the "history" of Open Access (OA). Yet, enough time has passed since…
Impact of Bayh–Dole Act on Scientific Research
What was Bayh–Dole Act?
When it comes to research patent, The Bayh–Dole Act continues to generate heated debate. Senators Birch Bayh and Bob Dole, a Democrat and a Republican,…
How Disruptive is Open Access Publishing?
What is the Meaning of "Disruptive?"
The literal definition of to disrupt is to “break apart, throw into disorder, or interrupt the normal progress or activity of something.” I…