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LGBTQ Books are the Most Challenged in America: Here are Some that Top the List
LGBTQ representation in publishing has grown exponentially over the last decade in a good way. We noted in a previous post that LGBTQ books have gone from being a niche subject in the back of bookstores to bestsellers that are helping to keep publishing alive and...
Celebrating and Honoring Freedom Day: Juneteenth
Juneteenth has been celebrated by Black Americans since 1866, but has been largely overlooked, marginalized, and unknown to many Americans until recently. Juneteenth would not become recognized as a federal holiday until June 18th, 2021, after a proclamation by...
Pride Month Book Recommendations Across Genres
This June, we have a few book recommendations to celebrate Pride: skip the corporate rainbow-washing and instead curl up with a good book by a queer* author featuring queer themes, characters, and insights. The following books, encompassing just some of the diversity...
The Art of the Book
Depending on the corners of the internet you inhabit, the algorithm might show you, like it does for me, crafty videos of people using paper, twine, glue, cardstock, leather, and all manner of other things to make and bind their own books and journals. Book binding,...
Human Nature: What Human Help Can Do That AI Cannot
In today’s world, artificial intelligence (AI) is, slowly but surely, becoming just as much of a staple to the publishing industry as the internet. Its advantages include allowing the writing and editing processes to become faster, more streamlined, and, in some...
Cash for Citations: The Newest Scam in Scholarly Publishing
“Publish or Perish” tends to be the unfortunate moniker of the scholarly publishing world nowadays. Experts have to publish their work (and in the right journal, mind you) to get the citations and recognition needed to advance in their field. This mindset has of...
AI’s Role in Peer Review
We’ve almost talked to death the topic of ChatGPT’s authorship role and the ethics of authors using it and other AI tools to produce manuscripts in past blog posts. Yet, this doesn’t change the fact that AI continues to infiltrate every step of the scholarly...
Interior Book Design: Guide to Formatting, Layout, and Design
When it comes to interior page formatting, it's important to keep in mind that programs such as Microsoft Word and Google Docs may not be the most suitable tools for designing your book. It takes more than just a few clicks to transform your typed pages into a...
Celebrate National Grammar Day by Debunking Some Common Grammar Myths
March 4th marks National Grammar Day in the United States. Started by author Martha Brockenbrough, the founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, National Grammar Day was officially recognized by George W. Bush in 2008, and has been celebrated annually...
A Crash Course on the Public Domain Care of Mickey Mouse
After 95 years of perhaps the strictest copyright protection this side of bulletproof glass, Mickey Mouse is now entering the public domain – sort of. The original “Steamboat Willy” version of Walt Disney’s crown jewel of intellectual property officially enters the...
Closing the Gap, One Step at a Time
February 11, 2024 marks the ninth annual U.N. General Assembly’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Now, more than ever, girls’ horizons are expanding, allowing them to make their marks in fields in which they have historically been underrepresented....
How to Create Effective Author Guidelines for Your Journal
For editorial staff, it can be frustrating when authors submit manuscripts that clearly don’t follow the journal guidelines. This could be because authors didn’t read through the guidelines before submitting, but it could also be that the author guidelines are confusing, hard to read, or contradictory. It’s important to review your guidelines periodically...
Five Tips for Creating a Good Special Issue
As previously mentioned, declining journal submissions is a problem that almost all publishers face at some point. For many journals, one of the best ways to increase their number of submissions and drum up interest is by having a special issue. But what is a special issue and how do you go about creating one for your journal? Special issues are often...
New Technology and Tools Seek to Streamline Reviewer Matching
Even with the assistance of a good editorial assistant or editorial team, the peer review process can be draining and difficult for both editors and authors. In the 2018 Global State of Review, which was released by Publons, 75% of editors stated that finding reviewers was their most difficult task as a journal editor. The reason? According to the same...
Four Tips for Publishers to Ensure a Positive and Inclusive Author Experience
These days, a lot of quality work is being performed by non-native English-speaking authors. Therefore, a positive and inclusive author experience is essential to keep submissions rolling in and to establish a favorable reputation for your journal. Once a manuscript makes it past the initial stage of scrutiny, there are numerous editorial reasons for...
Should Authors Disclose Previous Submission Information?
When submitting manuscripts for peer review, authors are often reluctant to provide information on their manuscript’s submission history, concerned that a prior rejection might reflect badly on their current submission. However, there may be good reasons for disclosing your manuscript’s submission information (if in fact that information is requested...
Four ways to boost submissions to your journal
It’s a problem that publishers don’t want to face but, unfortunately, often have to: a steadily declining number of submissions to their journal. At first glance, the reason for the decline may not be obvious, but doing a thorough audit of the journal can turn up several possible explanations, which can lead to potential solutions. If you encounter a...
Going Digital
The current COVID-19 pandemic underscores the importance of having seamless remote working methods whenever in-person contact is not a feasible option. But an international crisis isn’t the only reason to go digital. Authors and editors might have a whole host of other reasons for it: lack of childcare; inability to travel due to medical complications; an...
Coping with Covid-19: Technica Editorial Moves to the Virtual Office
The impact of COVID-19 has reached deeply into all of our lives and as the business owners of Technica Editorial, Jack and I have grappled with work-from-home plans as well as making sure all of our employees are able to create a clear, focused workspace. We've been fortunate to have had many of the technologies in place already, so the switch to remote...
Get to Know the Technica Staff: Grace Taylor
Each month, we will interview one employee to get their opinions on the publishing industry, hear what it’s like to work at Technica, and learn a little bit about them. This month we are interviewing Grace Taylor, a Miami, FL native and proud NC State Wolfpack alumna who came to Technica in August of 2019. What drew you to working in the publishing...
The Importance of a Well-Crafted Illustration and How to Make Them
At the confluence of art and science is scientific illustration. Scientific illustrations provide a window into the world of science that is not typically accessible to laypeople. The impact of a well-done illustration cannot be overstated. Above: Classic examples of scientific illustrations that also inform the general public include Da Vinci’s 1510–1512...