Tadween Roundup: News and Analysis from the Publishing/Academic World

Education

‘We are Creating Walmarts of Higher Education’ 
By Timothy Pratt (The Atlantic)

The number of higher education institutions across the United States dropping courses and offering less credits is multiplying as universities try to grapple with budget cuts. With budget shortfalls leading to cuts in staff and courses, educators are beginning to wonder if universities are at risk of “dumbing” down the education process in order to the save themselves.

More College Adjuncts See Strength in Union Numbers
By Tamar Lewin (New York Times)

As the “the working poor of academia,” adjunct professors have taken to using the strength of numbers by gathering to form a collective union.

The Worst Time of the Year to Be an Adjunct Professor
By James Orbesen (The Atlantic)

As the end of an academic semester rolls around, adjunct professors keep their fingers crossed hoping that their jobs are not swept under the rug.

The Highly Educated, Badly Paid, Often Abused Adjunct Professors
By Charlotte Allen (Los Angeles Times)

In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Charlotte Allen remarks on the poor treatment of under paid adjunct faculty who often have the same education as higher level tenured-track faculty but are treated quite different.

Inside and Outside the Classroom
By Joseph Fruscione (Inside Higher Ed)

Inside Higher Ed introduces a monthly column titled “Adjuncts Interviewing Adjuncts” to tackle the discourse over the state of adjunct faculty in academia.

Raising the Bar on Faculty
By Colleen Flaherty and Scott Jaschik (Inside Higher Ed)

A set of new rules upheld by a Florida judge that places more requirements on faculty members in order for them to continue their contracts stirs controversy.

How the Tenured are to the Job Market as White People are to Racism
(The Professor Is In)

The blog “The Professor Is In” recounts a heated exchange between Rebecca Schuman and Tenured Radical and compares their discussion of tenure-track woes, addressing a core division over hardship in the academic job market.


Publishing

Defining Legit Open Access Journals
By Kerry Grens (The Scientist)

The Committee on Publication Ethics, the Directory of Open Access Journals, the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, and the World Association of Medical Editors develop a series of guidelines and principles to make open-access journals transparent.

UCL Presses Ahead with Open Access
By Paul Jump (Times Higher Education)

The University College London tries to remove the burden of over-priced journal subscriptions by disseminating research with its own publishing press.

Old School vs. New School as Academic Publishers Brawl Over Web
By Stephen Shankland (CNET)

In an open access war over academic publishing, Elsevier services the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to Academia.edu and requests for research to be removed from the open-access academic network.

How One Publisher is Stopping Academics from Sharing Their Research
By Andrea Peterson (Washington Post)

Elsevier has not only targeted Academia.edu in its attempt to take down academic research from being openly accessible to the public, it is also targeting universities.

Ten Bold Predictions for E-Books and Digital Publishing in 2014
By Jeremy Greenfield (Digital Book World)

Jeremy Greenfield complies a list of his top ten predictions for e-books and digital publishing in 2014.