News: Academic Publishing Weekly

Court rules against the IA, Clarivate releases Web of Science Research Assistant, and a look at the scholarly journals market

Posted on September 6, 2024 in News

Court Confirms Ruling against the Internet Archive

In an update to the closely watched Hachette v. Internet Archive (IA) copyright lawsuit, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit have maintained their decision that the IA’s practice of controlled digital lending does not fall under fair use. WIRED’s Kate Knibbs had coverage, noting that the court called the IA’s appeal “unpersuasive” despite changing its ruling that the IA is a nonprofit rather than a commercial business. In response, Chris Freeland, director of library services at the Internet Archive, commented, “We are reviewing the court’s opinion and will continue to defend the rights of libraries to own, lend, and preserve books.” Knibbs acknowledged IA’s value in digital preservation efforts, also noting that the decision comes amid several lawsuits concerning AI copyright and that a lawsuit against the IA filed by multiple music labels is still pending. [WIRED]

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New White Paper on AI Literacy and Clarivate Unveils the Web of Science Research Assistant

After undergoing beta testing last December, Clarivate has launched the Web of Science Research Assistant under its Academic AI Platform. The AI tool includes enhanced search capabilities and data visualizations by drawing on “120 years of trusted publication and citation data in the Web of Science Core Collection.” Emmanuel Thiveaud, Senior Vice President, Research and Analytics, Academia & Government at Clarivate, further underscored that, “By partnering with the community and leveraging high-quality, reliable data and expertise, Clarivate is responsibly implementing cutting-edge technology in the Web of Science to improve research discovery and analytics that will transform our world.” In other AI news, Choice’s library technology content vertical LibTech Insights released its first free white paper. “Building an AI Literacy Framework: Perspectives from Instruction Librarians and Current Information Literary Tools” utilizes interviews with academic librarians to determine best practices for furthering AI literacy on campus. The white paper is authored by McGill University Librarians Sandy Hervieux and Amanda Wheatley, and is underwritten by Taylor & Francis.

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IOP Publishing Enters an Agreement with Hum and Considering Publishers’ AI Deals

IOP Publishing has announced an AI agreement with Hum. Under the partnership, IOP Publishing will leverage Hum’s AI models to improve its outreach, locate “emerging topics for future content development,” and determine “the most relevant content recommendations for individual readers.” The Bookseller also reported on Wiley’s recent AI deals, finding that the partnerships will not provide an opt-out option for authors. As explained by a Wiley spokesperson, “Creating an opt-out or opt-in for a specific type of licensing on a case-by-case basis would erroneously support AI developers’ specious claim that licensing is not scalable.” That said, Wiley did note that authors will receive payment for the licensing of their work. Next up, Todd Carpenter of The Scholarly Kitchen considered several AI partnerships including Wiley’s, stressing their impact on scholarly publishing’s “reputation economy” and author attribution. Carpenter underscored that authors can lose citations if publishers license AI tools that don’t reference their sources, writing, “…there should be a concern that people will begin to skip the stage of actually reading the original content and possibly not even know it came from Author So-And-So.” In response, Carpenter urged publishers to ensure that proper citation and attribution is included when licensing content to AI companies.

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Liverpool University Press Partners with the Bodleian Library and T&F Announces “Critical Insights” Journals

This October, Liverpool University Press will start publishing The Bodleian Library Record (BLR) for the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries. As explained by Fine Books & Collections, the BLR is “both a scholarly journal for articles based on research in the Bodleian Libraries’ collections and those of other libraries, and a record of significant developments within the Libraries.” The journal will also be made available electronically for the first time to Friends of the Bodleian and purchasing institutions. Next up, Taylor & Francis is releasing several “Critical Insights” open access journals on topics including climate change, aquaculture, and geophysics. Four journals will be published this year, with several others slated for 2025. Taylor & Francis shared that each journal will feature “‘Critical Insights summaries’ alongside each article outlining how it contributes to the direction of the field.” The publisher mentioned that expert support will be given to authors published under the journals including “constructive and detailed peer review.”

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Journals Market Report, UP Week, and Forthcoming Reads

As this year’s University Press Week fast approaches, AUPresses members put together a #StepUP reading list of 123 unique publications and projects. Topics include Black Studies, Education, Politics and Current Events, and Science and Environment. Speaking of university presses, Inside Higher Ed previewed forthcoming fall releases. Selections include Joseph E. Aoun’s Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence from MIT Press and the book and exhibit For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability, edited by Jill Dawsey and Isabel Casso, published by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and distributed by University of British Columbia Press. In other news, Clarke & Esposito (C&E) published its annual Scholarly Journals Market Trends report. The report features insights on open access and AI, providing what C&E terms “an in-depth review of the scholarly journals market today – and insight into where it is going in the future.” C&E broke down several findings in the latest issue of its free monthly newsletter, The Brief, particularly focusing on the rise (and seeming fall) of born open access publishers. C&E further covered output trends for megajournals and the growth of the hybrid OA model.  

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