My exciting new job at Elsevier: Inaugural editor-in-chief of The Journal of Applied Publishing Experiments

Posted by John Dupuis on April 1, 2012
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Hi everybody,

It is with great pride and excitement that I’m finally able to announce something that’s been in the works for a few months now. I will be accepting the role of inaugural editor-in-chief of an exciting new journal to be published by Elsevier: The Journal of Applied Publishing Experiments.

This amazing opportunity arose a few months ago, initiated by a blog post of mine that congratulated Elsevier on their wise marketing and publishing moves and this one a bit later, where I declare my undying loyalty to the Elsevier brand. The publisher of Elsevier immediately contacted me after that post to see if there was a way we could work together to advance the cause of scholarly publishing.

Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

And thus began the discussions around the best way to do that. And before too long, this amazing JAPE was conceived.

The scope of the new journal is going to be very broad. It will be about the intersection between publishing, authoring and business models. And while the focus will be on practical solutions to difficult theoretical and economic problems, we will get into some high-falutin’ theorising too.

Some sample articles we have already solicited from some of the most important members of the online scholarly communications community:

  • Alt-Metrics, Schmalt-Metrics

  • Open Access for Fun and Profit
  • How Institutional Open Access Declarations Are the Tools of the Devil
  • Open Notebook Science: Just Say No!
  • Data Wants to Be Free — Not!
  • Why Depositing Articles in Your Institutional Repository Is a Bad Idea
  • Librarians Are Not Your Friends
  • Citizen Science: Would You Let Your Kids Operate the Large Hadron Collider?
  • Journals Articles as Data Worth Mining: Fuhgeddaboudit!
  • $60 an Article? Cheap at any Price
  • Elsevier Are the Pink Fluffy Bunnies of Publishing
  • The Best Libraries of Science Shouldn’t Belong to the Public

I can’t tell you who the superstars are who have written these articles are yet, but see if you can guess! And please feel free to pitch articles in the comments!

The first quarterly issue is scheduled for April 1, 2013. Of course the journal will be included in all major Elsevier journal bundles. The annual subscription rate will be US$100 for individuals and $US10,000 for libraries.

I’m incredibly proud to announce the first set of appointments to the editorial board. There are a stellar bunch to say the least! I am actively recruiting further members for the board amongst the librarian, scientific and publishing communities. Please feel free to apply in the comments.

Our initial meeting is on the tropical island of Belize this coming June.

I know this might come as a surprise to many who have perhaps known me as an open access supporter but really, perhaps it’s time for all of us to grow up, put away our childish things and embrace reality. Show me the money, and all that.

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Comments

  1. #1 John
    April 1, 2012

    Congrats John. I look forward to your commentary on this subject. Cutting edge.

  2. #2 D. C. Sessions
    April 1, 2012

    I love the name of the journal.

  3. #3 Randy
    April 1, 2012

    Wicked awesome job, John. I’m very proud of you and wish you all the best. It’s high time that we took libraries and scholarly publishing back from the masses anyway.

  4. #4 Graham Steel
    April 1, 2012

    I’m very excited about this new Journal, the sample articles are right up my street, and I’m very impressed with the Editorial Board.

    With > 5 years experience involved in discussions about STM Publishing and having a wealth of contacts within the Publishing & Research communities, I would be more than willing to offering my services at an Editorial Board level.

    I fully endorse your statement:- “perhaps it’s time for all of us to grow up, put away our childish things and embrace reality”.

    Yours sincerely,

    Graham

  5. #5 Steve Koch
    April 1, 2012

    Congrats! If you have budget space, I would like to apply for managing the commenting/corrections department. I can travel once per year to meet with the gallery proof peeps and decide on which submitted comments or corrections (on signed University letterhead only! (to make sure comments have a chance of being correct)) are worthy of publishing in the upcoming year’s issue.

  6. #6 walt crawford
    April 1, 2012

    As an expert APE, who’s been involved in APE for years, I humbly apply to be added to your august editorial board. I do think the institutional prices are a little on the low side, though.

  7. #7 V
    April 1, 2012

    Is Belize an island?

  8. #8 Graham Steel
    April 1, 2012

    @ V – Yes, Belize apparently is Nature’s best kept secret:- http://www.travelbelize.org/

  9. #9 Robin Peek
    April 1, 2012

    OA was just a cult anyway. We should drink the Kool-Aid and embrace paper journals again. Woo-Hoo!

  10. #10 Barbara Fister
    April 1, 2012

    So looking forward to out time on the island of Belize, in the balmy Indian Ocean. Can’t wait to do some unicorn watching there. And what Walt said – we don’t want to seem cheap, do we? Besides, since there is no problem that FRPAA could solve, libraries won’t have any trouble affording it.

    If it ain’t broke, go to Belize. Oh look, a dragon!

  11. #11 amy buckland
    April 1, 2012

    Thanks so much for this opportunity John!
    I’m certain that being part of the Elsevier kingdom will do wonders for my career – so, again, thanks for thinking of us folk who are pre-tenure.

    (I get my own bungalow in Belize, right?)

  12. #12 walt crawford
    April 1, 2012

    Amy, since Belize borders Mongolia (it’s in the southeast part of the Indian Ocean, as Barbara says), they actually have yurts, not bungalows.

  13. #13 Joe
    April 1, 2012

    Thanks John for the invite to the editorial board. I am looking forward to working with you on the journal. We are taking advertising for the journal, right? That is another way we can make boat loads of money on the publication.

  14. #14 furtivezoog
    April 2, 2012

    As a member of the general public, I must tell you how relieved I am to see that finally some thought is being given to protecting members of the public from the daunting avalanche of scientific and medical discoveries. My little head was about ready to burst!

    Now, I can safely go back to having my questions answered by ‘the Google’ and by numerous dedicated, media-vetted celebrities. And, I now have Healthy Living and Science sections in the Huffington Post to properly interpret and aggregate for me the sum of human wisdom!

  15. #15 Raving
    April 3, 2012

    Nice one! Destined to become twiturd

    Congratulations

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