Page 25 - index

The scholarly publishing industry is in a period of “radical uncertainty” given the active

discourse occurring about the manner in which publicly funded research is or is not

made public, the perceived lack of transparency in peer review, and concerns about

who benefts from the current model of commercial scientifc publishing. – Noah Moxham

the perceived lack of transparency in peer review, and III. FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS FOR LEADERSHIP
concerns about who benefts from the current model of Leadership is a peer-reviewed publication published three
commercial scientifc publishing. In his view, the scholarly
publishing industry “could well be facing a major fracture times per year that is dedicated to disseminating research-
point in the history of science communication.” Similarly, based and practical information for the beneft of post-
Ware and Mabe (2015) hypothesized in the STM Report secondary leaders (Academy website, retrieved July
2015). Implicit in the website description of Leadership
that disruptive innovation may become more common in are the traditional purposes of a scholarly journal (i.e.,
the coming years and that a defning feature will be “the
accelerating pace of market and technology innovation, registration, dissemination, certifcation, and archival
even as the core values remain constant” (p. 160). record) in serving a discipline-specifc audience—college
and university leaders. Tus, Leadership in its present
Michael Eison (2013), co-founder of the Public Library of form is well aligned with the core defning elements
Science (a nonproft publisher of open access research), underlying scholarly journals as shown in Table 1.
and Priem and Hemminger (2012), among others, have
advanced more radical perspectives about the future of Table 1: Defning Elements of Leadership in Context
scholarly journals, advocating for the “decoupling” of the
traditional functions of a journal as the solution to needed Defning Elements of Defning Elements
reforms, whereby core functions would be performed as a Scholarly Journal of Leadership
independent marketable services. For example, in a Blog A formal written form of scholarly communication ■
article, “Does the scientifc journal have a future?” (Swoger, Published on a periodic basis by an institution,
June 18, 2014), the author observed that a decoupling of corporation, or a professional or scholarly society ■
journal functions was closer to reality than previously Content is written by experts for experts in a
imagined, as most traditional functions of scholarly specifc discipline or feld ■
journals “are now also done independently by third Includes original research or intellectual inquiry along ■
with citations for all sources used
parties, making the scholarly journal less and less vital to Usually involves a peer-review process prior to publication ■
the publication process.” Swoger noted that authors are
able to post manuscripts online, have them reviewed by Leadership is published in both print and online
independent experts, track versions, and examine article
impact without the need for a scholarly journal. In her E-reader formats. Te types of articles published include
manuscripts that are based on original research and add
opinion, an academic publishing model based on the level new knowledge to the feld, as well as opinion-based
of an article, not a journal, may be the way of the future.
editorial commentary. Terefore, Leadership may be
Whatever the outcome of current debates about the considered to be within the realm of the 5% of active
future of scholarly publishing, there appears to be general journals that are “hybrids”—i.e., academic journals that
agreement that some degree of considered reform of the meld journalistic and research content.
system—in whole or in part—will occur in the decade to
come, and that priorities and prospects for journals in the As previously alluded, priorities and prospects for
future will depend in large measure on how, and how well, journals in the future will depend in large measure on
how, and how well, the target audiences value and use
readers value and use journals as a professional resource.
journals as a professional resource. Terefore, it is vitally

LEADERSHIP Vol. 21.2 Fall 2015 23

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