Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash The first half of 2026 has offered no shortage of reminders that scholarly publishing is changing rapidly - and not always comfortably for those of us in scholarly communications. Reviewing the Cabells blog so far this year, one theme has come through again and again: researchers, librarians, publishers and institutions rrequire improved evidence, habits and tools if they are to navigate a … Continue reading School’s out for Summer*
Blurred lines
Science through time has always represented truth. Logical truth, verifiable truth, empirical truth – whatever the scientific method employed the single goal has been to find out whether something was true or false. Most of the time this might not be anything very exciting or innovative, but from the high school lab to cutting edge R&D, the pursuit of science seemed pretty clear cut. The reporting … Continue reading Blurred lines
Wish List
April saw the curtain come down on one of the most remarkable resources available in business and management research. The Harzing Journal Quality List (https://harzing.com/blog/2026/04/72nd-edition-of-the-journal-quality-list-online) has been meticulously researched and updated an incredible 72 times over the 26 years of its existence, providing a reliable snapshot to academics and publishers alike how ranked journals compared across disciplines from different journal lists published round the world. The brainchild of … Continue reading Wish List
Top five benefits of using TWO journal databases
June 2026 marks the 10th anniversary in the UK of its tectonic vote to leave the European Union. The so-called Brexit debate consumed the country at the time, and has continued to factor in almost every major political change the UK has had in the last decade – right up to and including the resignation of Prime Minister … Continue reading Top five benefits of using TWO journal databases
Word up
To state the obvious, words matter – but sometimes the wrong words in the wrong place can matter even more than the right ones. In the recent Cabells white paper on how to use data for choosing the optimal journal for publication, it was clear that both understanding terms used on social media and then using those terms to promote research … Continue reading Word up
The end of the paper mill?
In his widely cited - and widely misunderstood - book The End of History and the Last Man, historian and author Francis Fukuyama was heavily criticized for saying that the West had ‘won’ and that there would be no meaningful conflicts to trouble the world with the fall of the Iron Curtain in the late 1980s. The following … Continue reading The end of the paper mill?
Reviewing the literature on predatory publishing
The simplest way to learn about predatory journals and their tricks of the trade is to look at the burgeoning number of articles on the topic. Since 2020, there have been over 2,000 research articles published that mention ‘predatory publishing,' with the rate increasing over time. Indeed, as you can see from the graph below, aside from the spike in … Continue reading Reviewing the literature on predatory publishing
Research doesn’t happen in a vacuum – and here’s the proof
Within a couple of weeks of each other, two decisions have been made that will shape business research and education for years to come – but for very different reasons. One decision is a bold, risky decision that is global in reach and open in outlook; the other is small-minded and narrow, which nevertheless sends a strong message to those it will impact. The first decision has been taken by the … Continue reading Research doesn’t happen in a vacuum – and here’s the proof
Study highlights AI-fueled increase in references to fake sources
Recent reporting from the respected Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant highlights a growing problem in scholarly publishing: the rise of AI-generated fake citations appearing in academic papers. According to the article, authored by Stan van Pelt, fabricated references — studies, articles, or journals that do not actually exist — have increased significantly alongside the widespread adoption … Continue reading Study highlights AI-fueled increase in references to fake sources
What’s in a name?
Imagine you wake up one morning with a set of unusual symptoms. Nothing to worry about, you think, but you had better check online just to make sure. Once you scroll through a few plausible-sounding, non-serious possibilities, your eyes alight on an illness you have never heard of before. But it sounds serious – really serious. You click on the link … Continue reading What’s in a name?