Science has become more collaborative, more computational and more data intensive in recent years. However, a study suggests that 80% of the original data obtained through publicly-funded research is lost within two decades of publication. Moreover, researchers often duplicate work that has already been done. Unfortunately, traditional journals don’t give enough space to thoroughly describe datasets or the methods or software used to generate them. To address this concern, Elsevier has launched a series of peer reviewed journals under the Research Elements Program that makes it possible to publish data, software, materials and methods and other elements of the research cycle in a brief article format.

Published scientific papers commonly appear credible, evidence-based, and truthful to the non-scientific community. But the credibility and support behind these journals may not always be as reliable as one might expect. Indeed, the predatory journal has become a vehicle for quickly publishing experiments with minimal to no review. At a time when we should be aiming higher in terms of our expectations of sciences, these new “predatory” models lower the bar. As consequence, one starts to doubt on the accuracy of science. Predatory journals allow for the entry of lesser quality sciences on an already damaged knowledge market.

ProQuest announces the launch of nine regional databases of locally published scholarly journals across all major disciplines. With over 3,000 academic titles across the nine databases, published by scholarly organizations and societies, educational institutions, and academic presses, each collection represents hundreds of the most authoritative scholarly publishing in that geographic area. These nine databases are part of a broader ProQuest commitment to supporting scholarly research and teaching by providing access to the best in local content across all the content types that researchers and students use and value the most.

One of the most remarkable advances in Brazil’s research communication is the growing adoption of the English language by Brazilian journals indexed internationally. Brazil stands out in the increase of English publishing among others countries which are publishing in their native languages. It is expected that this internationalization will contribute to increase the visibility and the impact of the research communicated.

Through ReadCube’s Discover service, all Emerald research content – including over 200,000 journal articles, book chapters and teaching case studies – have been deep-indexed, allowing for increased discoverability across ReadCube’s web, desktop, and mobile reading portals, search engines and recommendation feeds. In addition to improved discovery, Emerald’s collection is now available in ReadCube’s signature “enhanced” reading format, including hyperlinked in-line citations and figures, annotation capabilities, clickable author names, one-click access to supplemental content and figures, social sharing, and Altmetrics.

Readcube has also acquired from Springer Nature the reference manager tool Papers that helps researchers collect and curate their research material. Click for more details.

Every year, the Wellcome Trust issues a report providing details of the total spend on OA publishing and considering to what extent papers are freely available through the Europe PMC repository and licenced in accordance with the Trust requirements. As a result, the Wellcome Trust has warned some big publishers than unless they improve their service and lower their costs, it could refuse to provide researchers with funds to publish in certain types of their journals.

Research organizations declare support for an OA transformation of scholarly journals

A growing number of research organizations want to establish an international initiative which aims to convert the majority of today’s scholarly journals from subscription to Open Access (OA) publishing. This is the result of the 12th Berlin Open Access Conference hosted by the Max Planck Society in December 2015. An Expression of Interest, published in March 2016 and already adopted by thirty signatories, invites all parties involved in scholarly publishing to collaborate on a swift and efficient transition for the benefit of scholarship and society at large.

Making academic journal articles free to read and quick to access — that’s the mission of the growing open access movement. The game-changing OA journal Discrete Analysis has been launched in February 2016. The journal will be owned by its editors, rather than a publisher middleman, and will follow the “diamond OA model,” meaning it will be free to read and publish in.

Stephen Pinfield shares findings and analysis from a detailed case study of the paid-for Gold Open Access market. Along with a snapshot of the paid-for Gold OA market the study provides, it may inform further evidence-based policy developments for institutions, funders and other stakeholders.

Elsevier and the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) have established an agreement with Dutch universities. The agreement enables Dutch researchers to publish open access in 30% of Elsevier journals. The agreement has been in force since 1st January 2016 to 31th December 2018.