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Stay up to date with the events and knowledge that are shaping the publishing industry.
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...
Fact, Fiction, and Form: The Art and Creation of Memoirs
To begin creating a memoir, writers must learn how to express their reality in an artistic format. Defining a memoir is the first step in this style’s creative nonfiction writing process. When trying to create a personal portrait reported in unshaped facts and...
Golden Fig Books: An Independent Bookstore Feature to Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day
An Independent Bookstore is defined as a bookstore that is independently owned and not a part of a larger corporation. In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, which is recognized on the last Saturday in April, I have reached out to a local independent bookstore...
The Art of the Book
Depending on the corners of the internet you inhabit, the algorithm might show you, like it does for me, crafty videos of people using paper, twine, glue, cardstock, leather, and all manner of other things to make and bind their own books and journals. Book binding,...
Human Nature: What Human Help Can Do That AI Cannot
In today’s world, artificial intelligence (AI) is, slowly but surely, becoming just as much of a staple to the publishing industry as the internet. Its advantages include allowing the writing and editing processes to become faster, more streamlined, and, in some...
Cash for Citations: The Newest Scam in Scholarly Publishing
“Publish or Perish” tends to be the unfortunate moniker of the scholarly publishing world nowadays. Experts have to publish their work (and in the right journal, mind you) to get the citations and recognition needed to advance in their field. This mindset has of...
AI’s Role in Peer Review
We’ve almost talked to death the topic of ChatGPT’s authorship role and the ethics of authors using it and other AI tools to produce manuscripts in past blog posts. Yet, this doesn’t change the fact that AI continues to infiltrate every step of the scholarly...
Interior Book Design: Guide to Formatting, Layout, and Design
When it comes to interior page formatting, it's important to keep in mind that programs such as Microsoft Word and Google Docs may not be the most suitable tools for designing your book. It takes more than just a few clicks to transform your typed pages into a...
Celebrate National Grammar Day by Debunking Some Common Grammar Myths
March 4th marks National Grammar Day in the United States. Started by author Martha Brockenbrough, the founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, National Grammar Day was officially recognized by George W. Bush in 2008, and has been celebrated annually...
Chapel Hill Public Library Adapts to Changes in the Publishing Industry
There have been many changes in the scholarly publishing world in recent years. The issue of open access and transparency has come to the forefront of publishing discussions, and there’s no denying that it is one of the most important topics facing the industry in 2020. We wanted to find out what changes and initiatives were taking place in the public...
How to Be Ready to Go Viral—And How to Capitalize on It When You Do
A crucial component of running a journal is increasing readership. The importance of providing engaging online content and having an active social media presence cannot be overstated. How well prepared are you to take advantage of these features if one of your articles were to go viral? How can you be ready to capitalize on the buzz? “Fortuitous...
Five ways to facilitate good reviews at your journal
Thoughtful, constructive, and on-time reviews make an editor’s job much easier. However, as journal staff can attest, reviews can often be brief, off topic, and late. While much of the burden is on reviewers to provide quality feedback on submissions, there are steps that journals, publishers, and societies can take to help facilitate the peer review...
Peer Review Week 2020: The Technica Staff Share Their Thoughts
Technica Editorial joins our colleagues and fellow publishers in celebrating Peer Review Week! The theme for Peer Review Week 2020 is “Trust in Peer Review,” highlighting the importance of the peer review process in helping to build trust in research and scholarly publication. The Technica Editorial staff shares some thoughts on trust in peer review in the...
Five tips for being a good peer reviewer
It goes without saying that reviewers are central to the peer review process. Thoughtful and thorough evaluations of submitted manuscripts can be the difference between increasing a journal’s impact factor and having to retract poorly researched or flawed articles. So, what steps can you follow to make sure your review is helpful and constructive? Read the...
Predatory Publishing Makes a Comeback in COVID-19
The name of the game in COVID-19 research has been speed. With the situation being everchanging and on the minds of both experts and laypeople, authors are trying to publish their latest COVID-19 studies as quickly as possible before scientific consensus changes. However, anyone who works in peer review knows that the goal is to review and publish a...
Has COVID-19 Made Traditional Peer Review A Thing of the Past?
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended virtually all aspects of our daily lives—from how we go to work and school to the ways we greet each other. And the methods for publishing scientific articles certainly have not been immune to these major changes. In a “normal” world, a scientific article would have to undergo meticulous peer review before going to press....
Technicast: ISMTE Recap
The Technicast is back! Despite the current pandemic, Technica Editorial was a part of the first ever virtual ISMTE North America Conference. The employees that attended provided a recap for our listeners highlighting their favorite moments and discussions from this unique event. Take a listen and if you attended, let us know what you thought of the event!
Journal Indexing 101 Part III: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
Even if you’ve studied the steps for successful indexing and feel you’ve met all of the required criteria, the first-time success rate for acceptance in the major indexes is quite low. In fact, 60–80% of applicants are rejected on their first try. Having worked previously with clients on index reapplications, we’ve found the most common reasons for initial...
Unsub: The Latest Tool in Scholarly Journal Management
The economic toll of COVID-19 has proven wide-reaching over the last several months. It has not only led to businesses shutting down, high unemployment rates, and the cancellation of most public events, but the toll on education and academic institutions has been staggering. In April, the State University of New York (SUNY) was one such academic...