Monday’s reads
What was Merck thinking? And Elsevier? Bob Grant reports on how Merck paid Elsevier to publish a fake peer-reviewed journal that reported favorably on Merck products.
Summer Johnson’s comments on Merck’s fake journal in the biothects.net blog. He points out “These kinds of endeavors are not possible without help.”
Anne-Marie Deitering comments on Merck’s fake journal in her info-feteshist blog. She argues that ultimate control is passing away from scholars’ and researchers’ professional societies and into the hands of corporate entities.
Christopher Dawson reviews Nature’s Scitable, concluding that he content is accessible, deep, relevant, and understandable.
Doc Searls wonders if Google’s lack of progress on basic search is because of advertising.
Sajid Surve reviews experiements done by Stanley Milgram and Jerry Burger and concludes, sadly, that when presented with a perceived authority figure, the majority of people will override their moral compass in favor of obedience.
Neil Schlager’s piece arguing that the fundamental problem with reference publishing is discoverability.
Jason Fell summarizes three paid content strategies that work.