Joe Esposito

On the surface this feels like such a straight-forward question one might wonder why we would even cover it. However, this question is filled with nuance. If expectations are not clearly set, misunderstanding can cause angst, poor working relationships, and even legal action. Here’s what the Chefs had to say:

Joe Esposito: Editorial independence is sometimes called by the more colorful name of the “church-and-state” principle. Editors rule the church, the state is run by the business types. This is an important principle in advertising-supported media where a publication may be pressured

2015 has already started with a bang and we think there's more to come, as you'll see from the Chef's responses to the question: What do you think will have the biggest impact on scholarly publishing in 2015?

According to the Chefs, we're looking at a year of mergers and acquisitions, the continuing growth of open access both in number of opportunities and in scale, the publication of data and objects (like multimedia, application code, etc.), and more start-ups.

What do YOU think will shape scholarly publishing in 2015?

This month we're asking the Chefs about customer focus. The question was inspired by a comment that Rick Anderson posted in August in which he wondered if the enhancements and features publishers implement are truly focused on customer needs. Seeing all of the Chefs' responses, and having opinions of my own, I find it very interesting that almost everyone, in one manner or another, took a step back and pondered: Who are the customers? 

University of Wyoming professor Peter Thorsness didn't used to pay much attention to how much the introductory biochemistry textbooks on his syllabus cost. He knew they were expensive, but he expected that students would use them over and over as a reference.

Then his daughter went to college. Since then, "I know what things cost," Thorsness said. And that's changed how he thinks about his own textbook assignments.

Recently, Thorsness and other faculty members picked one textbook - Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry - that students could use for three courses in sequence

As 2013 draws to a close, it's time for a quick look at the state of The Scholarly Kitchen. Pardon us this indulgent navel-gazing, it's in the nature of blogs and social media in general to spend a certain amount of time staring admirably at oneself in the mirror.

The Publishing Business Conference & Expo is constantly evolving as discussion panels are expanded and collaborative sessions sprout up just weeks before the show. One such recent evolution is the new STM session featuring Scholarly Kitchen "Chefs," Michael Clarke, David Crotty, Joe Esposito, Ann Michael and Stewart Wills. They'll be wrapping up our Tuesday sessions with "SSP's Scholarly Kitchen: Creating Community in Scholarly Publishing." To read what it's all about, check out David Crotty's latestblog post.