INFORMS Open Forum

  • 1.  Springer view on Journal trends

    Posted 11-08-2024 09:21
    Edited by Alan King 11-08-2024 09:22

    Interesting tidbits from today's broadcast to Springer journal editors copied below.  Some points are orthogonal to our recent discussion on INFORMS journals.

    It is reported that  ~50% of funded research goes unpublished - a waste of billions of dollars. The research publishing landscape has become dominated by journals that are highly selective, publishing the top 10-20% of submissions, and this has created inequity in publishing. 

    COVID-19 showed us that publishing all validated research - however incremental and regardless of positive or negative results - enabled us to develop effective drugs and vaccines within 18 months of disease outbreak. The success of more inclusive journals that are less selective show authors want and the research community need both selective and more inclusive journals.

    and

    The research publishing landscape is changing. In an ever-crowded market, the way researchers are now consuming research tends to favour high-volume journals. 

     

    Successful journals are now larger because of the shift in the way authors find journals. Researchers no longer follow several community journals, but more often sign up to keyword alerts which inform them of relevant published papers in their own field. If a journal regularly appears in a researcher's alert - these scientists are more likely to submit their own research to that journal, considering the Editors to be more interested in their area of research. 

     

    With this increased journal visibility and volume, there is also increased diversity in articles published. Editors have the opportunity to attract more authors by diversifying their portfolio content and representing their broader research community through their journal Editorial Boards.



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    Alan King
    IBM Research
    Yorktown Heights NY
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  • 2.  RE: Springer view on Journal trends

    Posted 11-11-2024 09:25

    Alan, thanks for "publishing" this. As a very large producer of journals as well as research-oriented textbooks, it is interesting to hear what Springer thinks. 

    Certainly the way research is consumed is changing dramatically, and correspondingly there are lots of ways to go around the traditional publishing process and still be seen. I am eager (and a little anxious) to see how it all shakes out.

    I would be remiss if I didn't point out the obvious problem with the statement "It is reported that  ~50% of funded research goes unpublished - a waste of billions of dollars." I think the intent of this statement is to attack the publishing process, but it could also be that ~50% of funded research was not worth funding, and therefore the peer-review process has done its job. I don't know that either is true, and I suspect neither do they.



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    Barry Nelson
    Walter P. Murphy Professor
    Northwestern University
    Evanston IL
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  • 3.  RE: Springer view on Journal trends

    Posted 11-12-2024 16:53

    Barry, you make a good point that some research might not be worth funding.  But we both know that there are significant biases in publication and in research funding.  Far-out ideas have much less chance of being funded, and industry especially is averse to funding research beyond some 'safe zone'.



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    Bruce Hartman
    Professor
    University of St. Francis
    Tucson, AZ United States
    bruce@ahartman.net
    website:http://drbrucehartman.net/brucewebsite/
    blog:http://supplychainandlogistics.org
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Springer view on Journal trends

    Posted 11-22-2024 13:52
    Dear Alan.
     
    Thank you for your constant participation in what is happening in and outside of our scientific community, including our OR-MS with its research, development, and application.
     
    I might add to your current post that our research influences the education of young people in direct and indirect, basic and elaborate, conscious and unconscious ways. 
     
    These effects can occur in teaching attitudes and styles, in beginner classes and in seminars, right up to master's and doctoral theses, and they live on in the professional lives of many and in what the world will be tomorrow.
     
    Thank you very much again!
     
    Cordial thanks to you again,
    and also to INFORMS which makes possible and maintains this valuable discussion platform.
     
    Kind regards,
    best wishes,
    Willi (Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber)


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    Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber
    Professor
    Poznan University of Technology
    Poznan
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