We have been discussing, on a regular basis, the recent AI developments and how they might impact academic publishing. Today, we will introduce some developing concerns regarding AI, where there appears to be increasing worry that AI is damaging academic publishing.
In grade school, most students learned about Pangea, the last supercontinent to exist on Earth. Pangea means “all the earth” in the Greek language, and is regarded as the origin of the modern continents and the Indian and Atlantic oceans. Pangea, however, will be upstaged in 250 million years by Pangea Ultima; the next supercontinent that scientists predict will exist on the Earth. The seven continents (North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Antarctica and Australia) will no longer exist, but will coalesce to form one giant land mass. This process, however, will not happen without affecting life on earth.
In a previous issue of our newsletter, we discussed the increasing popularity of open access in academic publishing and the concerns associated with this trend. Today we will introduce another bold new paradigm for academic publishing that aims to tackle some of the same long-standing issues that open access aims to address. That is, the idea of post-publication peer review (PPPR).
In Japan, many of us have had to animal-proof our trash bins to prevent animals from causing a large mess. Crows in particular are difficult to keep out due to their apparent high level of intelligence. Japanese ornithologist Hiroyoshi Higuchi PhD recounts an observation in his recent book Nyusuna Karasu Kansatsufuntoki of “faucet crows” in a Yokohama park where female carrion crows figured out how to operate water fountain faucets with their beaks to drink and bathe.
