"a job-role-centred, competency-based approach requires that skills are accurately mapped to roles, that learning experiences genuinely build those skills, that assessments are credible and robust, and that the outcomes are demonstrable in workplace performance."

"Jisc says the deal marks a key milestone for UK research, positioning UK universities at the forefront of efforts to reform scholarly publishing and create a system that is more sustainable, equitable, and focused on quality." www.researchinformation.info/news/jisc-se...

A data breach last month has revealed the identities of the anonymous reviewers who evaluated thousands of papers for one of the world’s biggest conferences on artificial intelligence (AI). www.science.org/content/arti...

This could get really complicated...

At least one academic publisher is now outsourcing article production to an AI firm. How's it going?

Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵 Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

"Whenever a clinician needs information, we would expect the first port of call to be the BNF." Kate Towers from @rpharms.com speaks to The BMJ. Read more about the BNF and its changing role (and size!) over decades of clinical practice #BMJChristmas www.bmj.com/content/391/...

🎵I'm pickin' up bug citations They're giving me excitations🎵 (with apologies to The Beach Boys) retractionwatch.com/2025/11/11/b...

"The digital landscape for academics is fragmented, tiring, and uncertain" scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/10/29/g...

The new Coalition S Gosplan "takes a softer approach, favoring alternatives to paywalled journals without an expressed goal of supplanting them. The new strategy acknowledges that 'no single model can meet all needs.'" www.science.org/content/arti...

Which is giving a "thou shalt not play repetitive generic music" earworm www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWrM...

A coalition of the AI curious conducted a trial of a new peer review assistant tool, the results of which suggest it may help with "repetitive administrative work" while struggling with nuance www.purposeledpublishing.org/post/peer-re...

The Council of Australasian University Librarians (CAUL) has agreed an in-principle agreement with Elsevier. www.knowledgespeak.com/news/caul-re...

Sage continue their "content first" strategy as they divest "Lean Library" www.sagepub.com/explore-our-...

Cambridge University Press has launched a new grant to support under-represented early career scholars from diverse backgrounds and geographic locations, including first generation scholars 👇 #BookSky

Big breaking news...Coursera and Udemy have agreed to merge their online education businesses. This will mean Udemy is no more and will be subsumed under the Coursera brand, with current CEO Greg Hart continuing as the CEO of this merged entity. investor.coursera.com/news/news-de...

Springer Nature book on the ethics of artificial intelligence research "appears to be riddled with fake citations, including references to journals that do not exist." archive.ph/vHK2E#select...

After learning about a paper that cites a dataset which contains thousands of photos of children's faces, seemingly taken without consent, “I went and downloaded the dataset, and I was completely horrified,” @deevybee.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/retraction/e...

Is producing "more harm than good” an unintended or an intended consequence of political caps on open access publishing fees? www.science.org/content/arti...

53% of researchers say they have used AI when peer reviewing articles, according to a survey by Frontiers. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Well, this is an utter disaster for science. This gutting of peer review is very likely driven by Project 2025/OMB/Vought, very likely is about funding junk science, and very likely is coming for #NIH and biomedical research next. 🧪

🚨 The UK government just published a breakdown of the responses to its consultation on AI & copyright: - 95% of respondents want AI companies to pay for their training data (made up of 88% saying strengthen copyright law, & 7% saying leave it as is) 🧵 1/2

UK university sector reaches deals with four major publishers. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-o...

De Gruyer Brill partner with a Cactus to provide some of their authors with automated editorial support services www.alpsp.org/news-publica...

Oxford University Press in 2024/5: - laid off >100 UK staff as well as their US design and content transformation and standards teams - acquired Karger Publishers - sold their NYC HQ www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

“I’m a human, I’m being bossed around by low-quality AI. It’s not fun.” www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

"We need to be publishing less, but better." Managing Director, Cambridge University Press. scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/12/11/g...

Wiley's Q2 2025 revenue numbers are out showing overall revenue decline YOY, while their research publishing arm grew 7% thanks in part AI licensing deals, article submission and output growth finance.yahoo.com/news/john-wi...

Trade Publishing News on the decline of book ownership for the masses

It only took a year but we did it, thanks Bluesky people! www.yorkmix.com/pictures-yor... I now know more about the UK artificial tree market than I'd ever expected.

An academic disliked an Oxford Very Short Introduction (145 pages) in his field so much that he wrote a 200 page book review attacking it. www.pierre-legrand.com/ewExternalFi...

For avoidance of confusion, that’s just about all academic staff, excluding Heads of Dept and- of course - Senior Management Team.

Should we be worried that US educational publisher Scholastic has had to sell its HQ and its distribution centre in order to pay down debt and buyback shares? www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

“If a reference cannot be found, this does not mean that the ICRC is withholding information. Various situations may explain this, including incomplete citations, documents preserved in other institutions, or— increasingly—AI-generated hallucinations.”

"the REF team have introduced an exception so that “long-form and extended-process research outputs” will remain portable for five years."

"Integrating [Search and Generative Engine Optimization] strategies, maintaining clarity and reliability, and meeting audiences where they engage are essential for success." scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/12/09/s...

Cengage report on international research collaboration suggests many things. The rising impact of research eminating from China will catch the eye - especially in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East, while the US is in decline as a research partner clarivate.com/academia-gov...

Report on the potential use of genAI for UK research assessment shows strong opposition varying between 54% and 75% of respondents for different parts of the REF process www.researchinformation.info/news/sceptic...

AI partnership news: Bloomsbury Academic and Google Cloud www.bloomsbury.com/us/connect/l...

This paper will be of interest to anyone who regularly conducts online survey research: www.surveypractice.org/article/1460...

Springer Nature: Big in Japan group.springernature.com/gp/group/med...

Artificial intelligence promises rapid and polite feedback on papers — but we must first review the reviewer, says Giorgio F. Gilestro go.nature.com/3McjUsw

Scite squaring up as co-founder seeks those interested in dropping Scopus or Web of Science

"Scholarly publishers have faced growing pressure from Chinese state regulators to restrict access to politically sensitive content or risk losing market access. This study examines the conditions compelling publishers to acquiesce to censorship demands..." https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/ezh7u_v4

This and that thread summarise something you hear increasingly in conversations on campus in the US. Links to wider concerns about reading and literacy. Important to avoid technology panic, but that's also a factor people blame bsky.app/profile/sara...

Concerns growing about whether academic books published in the US have been registered for copyright, and whether the registrateion has been recorded such that works are eligible for the Anthropic settlement dailynous.com/2025/12/02/c...

Steep drop in international students causes Essex University to cut 400 jobs over the next two years and close one of its campuses. #UKHE #AcademicSky

"Commercial scientific publishers these days makes Robert Maxwell look like an absolute piker when it comes to cynicism for profit." www.the-geyser.com/more-ai-slop...

Its the annual holiday countdown for my @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcast! Over the next 24 days I'll be highlighting the episodes from this year as well as giving shoutouts to some of the books of the year too!