Questions tagged [publishers]
Questions related to publisher, the one who publishes academic journals or books.
322
questions
107
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11
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Why is it acceptable that publishers sell papers they didn’t pay for?
I am curious about the worldwide accepted ethics in publishing. I have never seen any other economic sector in which someone legally sold someone else's product for their own profit, apparently ...
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votes
10
answers
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Is MDPI a reputable Academic Publisher?
I was recently asked to review for an MDPI open access journal. Is this a reputable publishing company? Their website suggests that they are 15 years old, and only do open-access publishing. The ...
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82
votes
5
answers
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Elsevier production team messed up my paper. What should I do?
I have a paper accepted by a journal of Elsevier, and it went under production for 3 months. Yet the production team has not been able to fix certain problems with typesetting which appeared during ...
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81
votes
12
answers
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Why don't researchers request payment for refereeing?
One of the most criticized aspects of the current publishing scheme, is that academics do pretty much all the work for free and publishers get the money.
Why don't people just charge a fee when ...
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votes
12
answers
5k
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How much does it cost the publisher to publish an academic article?
I am interested to know the cost of publishing an academic article. I do not mean in the simple sense of "what does a given journal charge an author to publish?" or "what does an association or ...
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79
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15
answers
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Why are academics not paid royalties on published research papers in IEEE, ACM etc.? [closed]
I understand that academics are not paid a single dime on their publications. In my field (computer science), IEEE, ACM, Springer, Elsevier are some known journals/publications and none of them pay ...
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72
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3
answers
11k
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How much percentage royalty do I get from Springer (as the paper's author) and how I can apply for royalty payment?
I have submitted a paper to a Springer conference and it has been published. The publisher will charge 24.95$ to anyone who would eventually download my paper and 201 copies of my research sold by ...
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66
votes
6
answers
8k
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Should I accept review requests from dubious journals?
I'm a graduate student with, so far, one published article in a peer-reviewed journal. Since the article came out, I've been receiving increasing amounts of "academic e-mail spam" from people wanting ...
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59
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7
answers
9k
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Can I get a refund if I bought an article that contains a major flaw?
Is it possible to get a refund from a publisher if I bought an article that contains a major flaw (i.e.,one that invalidates the main results or the main conclusions)? Assume the article was bought ...
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54
votes
9
answers
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Why don't high-ranking journals go solo?
There are so many debates and criticisms around the topic of publishers, who are accused of charging excessive fees for access when all the work of the journal is done for free by academics. But why ...
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votes
4
answers
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How to identify predatory publishers/journals
What are the best strategies for assessing if a journal is a "vanity" or "predatory" journal that should be avoided (both for publishing in and reviewing for)? For example, how ...
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9
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How much do Springer-Verlag authors make per book sold?
How much do Springer-Verlag authors make per book sold?
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49
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4
answers
3k
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Should I contact accomplished researchers listed as editors of shady journal?
I recently got an unsolicited email advertising a questionable-looking mathematics journal. Upon investigation, it looks pretty shady: page charges, manuscripts to be submitted in Microsoft Word (...
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46
votes
8
answers
5k
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Why don't academics bypass restrictions on the distribution of their papers the same way as an institutional open access policy seems to do?
I've learned that academics can ensure that their papers can be freely distributed, even when those papers are published at places that require transferring copyright, simply by granting a ...
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46
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2
answers
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What to do if my paper is incorrectly cited in a journal?
Recently I got a cite in a research paper where the author cited my work as [first name] et al, where it should have been [last name] et al. Is there any problem for indexing purpose? should I contact ...
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45
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9
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Why are (galley) proof requests given such a short deadline?
Often the publisher requests to get the proof within 24 hours when it's ready. What are the reasons for making this so short? Do they want the authors to not make too many changes?
EDIT:
The email I ...
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44
votes
7
answers
37k
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Do Springer, IEEE, Elsevier charge a fee for non-open-access journals?
My PhD advisor and lab colleagues think that Springer, IEEE and Elsevier journals non-open-access charge authors for publishing a paper. (They usually only publish in local journals.) All the info I'...
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5
answers
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What are the consequences of using Sci-Hub?
A student of mine has told me about Sci-Hub, where people can download copyrighted scholarly articles for free.
I have cautioned him that it is illegal, but he challenged me asking me what would be ...
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43
votes
4
answers
6k
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Has there ever been a strike of peer reviewers?
I know peer reviewing is done freely and voluntarily, at least I think for the most part, so I am not sure strike is the best way of calling it, but it gives the idea. With all the recent discussion ...
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43
votes
8
answers
4k
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Is there any way to pressure textbook publishers to reduce price?
I am an instructor in a medium-sized state school in the USA. The price for the textbook to the introductory math course that I teach just increased. Again. A new, paperback copy costs 170 USD. I want ...
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42
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6
answers
5k
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How far should you go in compromising your work to get it published?
To get my first paper published I carefully followed all reviewers’ instructions as I was convinced that reviewers are experienced researchers and reviewers. After major revision my first paper was ...
user93911
42
votes
4
answers
4k
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Journal allows me to choose whether to transfer copyright – why would I do so?
I am a mathematics undergraduate in the USA. Recently I had a paper accepted to a math journal, and in the final steps of the process I had to fill out a “consent to publish” form, in which I had the ...
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41
votes
12
answers
6k
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What can a publisher offer to its best reviewers?
As a publisher, every now and then I saw reviews which are so good, I thought I should thank the reviewer with something more than "thanks". What can a publisher offer that will actually be useful?
...
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40
votes
4
answers
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Submitting the same research to multiple conferences
I'm aware that it's a violation of terms for most publishers to submit the same article to more than one journal, but I frequently see authors whose papers seem very similar, particularly papers ...
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39
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4
answers
4k
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I came across plagiarism. Whom should I inform if at all?
I have been reading a sample PDF of a book by a professor at a research university published in 2007 on the publisher’s website. For some reason the book’s title was not included in the PDF’s footer (...
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38
votes
4
answers
5k
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Why does or did Elsevier make PDFs grey and therefore unfit for printing?
My university subscribes to various online journals. Sometimes I print off articles that I know I will read over and over again. (I'm all for saving paper, but some things I do prefer reading on paper....
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38
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1
answer
13k
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How is a new academic journal born?
We have witnessed (heard or read) about the birth of new academic journals many times. I have a vague idea how that happens:
A scientist or a group of scientists recognize the need for an academic ...
user4511
37
votes
5
answers
10k
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What should I do when someone publishes a paper based on results I already posted on the internet?
I posted new theorems and proofs on Mathematics Stack Exchange.
Weeks later, someone else submitted the same results to a Springer journal and the paper was accepted.
How can a publisher like Springer ...
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37
votes
4
answers
6k
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I believe a publisher is infringing copyright when reproducing a figure I created. What can I do?
A few months ago an Elsevier representative contacted me asking for permission to reproduce one of my thesis figures in one of their books. Since this figure is only in my thesis (introduction section)...
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35
votes
3
answers
3k
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Why are small fonts the norm in research papers?
Is it just me or are the published articles a strain on the eyes in general? Has there been(/shouldn't there be) a study on optimal font sizes for reading?
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33
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12
answers
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Is it worth it to master LaTeX or MS Word?
I want to know, if I submit a paper to a journal, will they change the formatting of the paper? For example, will they change the position of the tables or the figures?
If they change these, then I ...
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30
votes
9
answers
9k
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What are the motivations for publishing new editions of an existing textbook, beyond new discoveries in a field?
In many of my undergraduate classes, professors required up to date editions of textbooks. This was across a number of subjects from Computer Science to Accounting and across introductory and more ...
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30
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3
answers
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Do we really need gold open access if publishers permit self-archiving and sharing?
Several well-established journals nowadays allow self-archiving or sharing of articles through an institutional repository. For instance, Elsevier allows immediate sharing of the accepted manuscript ...
- 529
29
votes
1
answer
757
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Do any scientific publishers have a stated commitment to authors regarding copyright infringement?
Within the debate of whether science should move to an Open Access / CC-license scheme, or remain with a more traditional scheme where the authors transfer copyright to the publisher, one argument ...
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28
votes
4
answers
6k
views
Ways to get free and legal access to research papers as a researcher
I’ve discovered that website like ResearchGate offer the possibility to ask the paper editor to provide his paper for free. Many are collaborating.
Are there any other ways for researchers to obtain ...
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28
votes
1
answer
2k
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Who is earning money when users buy access to a research article?
I'm a software engineer, but I used to have to read a lot of papers about neurology. I am slightly disappointed by the high price for access to the full text of research papers. I can understand a ...
- 681
27
votes
3
answers
3k
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Journal employees offering free publication in return for co-authorship and citations: is it a scam?
Some of my colleagues and I got offers from employees of some reputed journal (not from journal itself), to publish our research paper for free, if:
We include their name as co-author
We use 60%+ ...
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26
votes
3
answers
3k
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Is it a good idea to cite paper from publisher listed in Beall’s list
While writing the literature review for my paper, I found another paper which is closely related to my research. Unfortunately, the paper’s publisher is on Beall’s List. Hence, I wonder if citing the ...
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26
votes
4
answers
762
views
What do publishers provide to authors in different disciplines?
Discussions about academic publication (for example, the recent Elsevier boycott, the actual cost of publication, open-access initiatives by universities and funding agencies, citation cartels, or ...
26
votes
1
answer
666
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What is the effect of a journal going open-access on its impact factor?
I recently saw this reasonably interesting graphic regarding journals and open access.
As many of you know, there is a large discussion about open access. It appears to be most strong within ...
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23
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Why don't journal publishers ask for proof of affiliation?
It seems like journal publishers do not require credentials for proof of your affiliation and identity. There are many places where such credentials are important, but even the most popular journal ...
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23
votes
4
answers
4k
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What is the purpose of international editions of books sometimes omitting some problems, footnotes, or other content?
I've noticed that - at least in the US - a book is published and sold at a non-trivial price to US residents. However, the author/publisher may also make an international version.
This version is ...
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23
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3
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Free ways to automatically get notified if new papers are published on ACM or IEEE?
I'm looking for a way, tool or technology that allows me to define keywords and/or authors and/or conferences for which I want to be notified if a new paper is published on ACM or IEEE. I couldn't yet ...
22
votes
6
answers
6k
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Why do some journal proofs insert dozens of typesetting mistakes? [closed]
Why do some journals change the final software and do not provide a template for the final draft(e.g. contains the same font as in the gallery proof)?
I often hear that some of my colleagues get ...
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22
votes
4
answers
8k
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How to respond to journal suggestion we get a native-speaker editor when writing seems reasonable and one author is a native English speaker?
I've seen this question on suggesting someone get a native speaker to edit and check. But my situation is rather different.
Several colleagues and I wrote an article for a special volume of a ...
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22
votes
1
answer
2k
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VG Wort – why would I agree to share with the publisher?
Background
When I reported my publications from 2017 to the VG Wort today, I could decide whether I wanted the publisher to get a share of my returns from the VG Wort (‘Verlagsbeteiligung”).
The ...
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21
votes
4
answers
4k
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Are reviewers impressed by a quick response to a request to revise and resubmit?
My colleagues believe that if you submit your manuscript revisions quickly, reviewers will be impressed by your confidence about the issues raised.
However, I think that a quick response is not ...
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21
votes
2
answers
998
views
Do publishers simply waive their exclusive rights without any resistance?
Assumption based upon my experience from CS: Typically, the business model of academic publishers is to archive and disseminate papers whose authors have transferred exclusive publication rights to ...
- 18.2k
20
votes
4
answers
4k
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Does ScholarOne really force you to have multiple logins?
Why can't I have a single ScholarOne login for every journal I submit or review for? Is there some way to copy over the address, keywords & password for all my accounts so I don't have to waste ...
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19
votes
4
answers
1k
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Why do big funders not act as publishers?
Scientific publishing absorbs a lot of money from the budgets of scientific organisations, either by publication fees or subscription fees, and many feel that the value added by the publisher is ...
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