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Is There a Better Way to Incentivize Peer Review and Reverse the Peer Review Crisis?
Anyone who has worked in the peer review system knows that things are in a state of flux right now. It is a system that has seen a heavy, almost overwhelming, burden on mostly volunteer reviewers. A study in 2020 analyzing peer review across all academic journals...
AI Detection Software is Hit or Miss According to Most Experts
For this year’s Peer Review Week, the theme selected was “Innovation and Technology in Peer Review”. We’ve spoken at length in recent posts about how AI and technology have changed the nature of peer review. We’ve specifically discussed ChatGPT’s growing role in peer...
Get Ready for Peer Review Week 2024: Innovation Meets Technology from September 23-28, 2024!
The academic publishing landscape is undergoing significant changes, with a growing focus on author and research integrity, alongside the increasing integration of AI. There's mounting pressure for greater transparency and efficiency in peer review as publication...
Book Review: Launch, by Jeff Walker
We love sharing books that really resonate with us, and that offer solid takeaways for authors. Launch, by Jeff Walker, is just such a book. If you're an author, entrepreneur, or just someone with a killer idea itching to hit the market, this book should be your Go...
Citation Manipulation Continues to Wreak Havoc on Publishing
One of the new buzz problems in scholarly publishing is the growing notion of citation manipulation by journals and publishing societies. We’ve previously written about the recent trend of “citation boosting services” selling fake AI-generated articles with citations...
Book Summary Apps are All the Rage, but Are They a Danger to Authors?
If you’re a millennial, you probably used SparkNotes at some point in high school to help summarize a book for English class. I fully admit that I tried my best to get through Jane Eyre, but Charlotte Bronte and I do not agree on writing style and pacing. The...
LGBTQ+ Books for All Age Groups
June is pride month, and with this, we wanted to present a collection of LGBTQ+ books for any preteen/ adolescent/ human who might be interested in this genre! LGBTQ literature explores LGBTQ+ experiences, history, relationships, and more. Queer literature can be a...
Feeling the Burn: How to Avoid Burnout While Writing a Book
For most authors, writing is far more than just a career—it’s a passion. The thought of starting a new book project is, at first, one that sparks rigorous motivation and enthusiasm. But all too often, that initial “get up and go” mentally quickly melts away into...
LGBTQ Books are the Most Challenged in America: Here are Some that Top the List
LGBTQ representation in publishing has grown exponentially over the last decade in a good way. We noted in a previous post that LGBTQ books have gone from being a niche subject in the back of bookstores to bestsellers that are helping to keep publishing alive and...
Celebrating and Honoring Freedom Day: Juneteenth
Juneteenth has been celebrated by Black Americans since 1866, but has been largely overlooked, marginalized, and unknown to many Americans until recently. Juneteenth would not become recognized as a federal holiday until June 18th, 2021, after a proclamation by...
Pride Month Book Recommendations Across Genres
This June, we have a few book recommendations to celebrate Pride: skip the corporate rainbow-washing and instead curl up with a good book by a queer* author featuring queer themes, characters, and insights. The following books, encompassing just some of the diversity...
Can Lay Summaries Help Expand the Audience for Scholarly Journals?
Scholarly publishing has undergone many evolutions, but heavy technical writing and detail have always been some of the major defining differences between scholarly journals and trade publications. While both trade and scholarly publications tend to be written for specific audiences, the technical jargon featured in most scholarly publications...
Quality, Not Quantity
Most young authors—including, but not limited to, authors of scientific and scholarly articles—have one main goal in mind: Get published as much as possible. But this way of thinking is just not always helpful for someone who is looking to establish a favorable reputation in the writing and editing world—in fact, in some cases, it can actually do the exact...
Technica Attends the 18th Annual Bookmarks Festival
Early on September 23, Andy Hill, Claire Lee, and I headed to Winston-Salem for the 18th annual Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors on behalf of Technica. Bookmarks, a literary arts nonprofit, was established in 2004 in tandem with the annual Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors. The eponymous bookstore opened in 2017 in downtown Winston-Salem, NC...
Right to Read: Intellectual Freedom Panel Discussion
On Sunday, October 1, 2023, I attended the Chapel Hill Public Library’s “Right to Read: Intellectual Freedom Panel Discussion” in honor of Banned Book Week. Aside from the discussion, I also enjoyed the free snacks, a free copy of Raina Telgemeier’s Drama courtesy of Red Wine and Blue’s Banned Bookmobile, exhibit posters with statistics about banned books,...
The 2023 Peer Review Week is Almost Here!
Peer review has always been an important, behind-the scenes piece of the publication puzzle. An annual week to celebrate and explore its complexities is well deserved! A couple of decades ago, academic and scientific peer review looked much different from today. Turnaround times were calculated by weeks and months rather than hours and days. Snail mail --...
Google’s New AI Search Changes the Game for Publishing
We may still be a few decades away from HAL 9000 and the Terminator wreaking havoc on the humanrace (fingers crossed!), but AI continues to infiltrate and change the publishing industry. We’ve already writtenabout how AI in the form of ChatGPT is changing all the rules for manuscript writing in every realm of publishing,but now AI is also changing the way...
What Exactly is Ghostwriting?
If you’re anything like me when you hear the word ghostwriter, one of two things pops up. First, there’sthe 1990s PBS television series where a literal ghost who writes helps a group of teenagers solve mysteries (sadly,we won’t be doing a deep dive into that forgotten gem). And the other is an image of a seasoned writer taking thedictated life stories of a...
5 Tips to Become A Better Writer
Are you a novice writer just starting out in the realm of digital content, or are you a seasoned expert seeking tips on writing better? As a word nerd who is currently working on her own book, here are a few of my favorite writing tips you can use to hone your creative art and increase readership. 1. Nurture Your Brain. Read More. I have been reading for...
Writing Prompts to Unlock Your Creativity
Ideas may seem hard to come by, whether you're attempting to start a new writing project or are experiencing writer's block in the middle of one. Writing prompts are invaluable. Use this list of creative writing prompts to flex your creative writing muscles as you search your life experiences, interests, and imagination for ideas for your next novel or...
Academic Journal Submission Tips
Many academics will submit their work to academic journals at some point in their careers. For those pursuing tenure, success in publishing may be the most important factor determining whether they receive promotion and tenure. Few will understand the thought processes that editors go through when deciding whether to accept or reject a manuscript, or...