Pining for Sustainability

The survey results discussed in Part I below reveal substantial paper consumption excesses in the existing law journal system. Though only thirty-three primary law journals responded to the survey, making extrapolation across the general population of all law journals difficult, the aggregate data is illuminating nonetheless. Based upon a very conservative evaluation of the data set, the respondent journals reported printing nearly seventeen million pages of paper in the one-year term of the 2008-2009 editorial boards. Isolated practices proved particularly disconcerting. For instance, one journal reported printing a full, single-sided copy of each of the more than two thousand electronically submitted manuscripts for which authors sought publication offers. Another law journal printed or copied the pages of so many sources cited in published pieces that the stack of source pages measured upwards of three feet for each published article. Part II analyzes the environmental impact of this reported paper consumption, taking into account the post-consumer recycled content of each journal and publisher\u27s chosen paper. Part III suggests that these paper consumption practices can be viewed as representative of a small, but not insignificant, accessible opportunity for environmental reform. Seizing these types of opportunities could trigger a fundamental paradigm shift toward a more comprehensive, systemic approach to the larger, ongoing substantive debates surrounding environmental sustainability. Such a shift may be useful not only within the law school model but far beyond, to fields such as developmental land use policies, fisheries management, and global energy markets

Pining for Sustainability

In the legal academic community, there are significant positive signs demonstrating attention to sustainable practices, from course offerings to many day-to-day operations. Scholarly research also reflects this positive trend. Much of this recent scholarship assesses sustainability-focused regulatory and normative efforts to address the impacts associated with a warming planet in marked detail, and there is an additional plethora of writing on the many topics beyond the changing climate that raise sustainability questions

On toxic effects of scientific journals

The advent of online publishing greatly facilitates the dissemination of scientific results. This revolution might have led to the untimely death of many traditional publishing companies, since today's scientists are perfectly capable of writing, formatting and uploading files to appropriate websites that can be consulted by colleagues and the general public alike. They also have the intellectual resources to criticize each other and organize an anonymous peer review system. The Open Access approach appears promising in this respect, but we cannot ignore that it is fraught with editorial and economic problems. A few powerful publishing companies not only managed to survive, but also rake up considerable profits. Moreover, they succeeded in becoming influential ‘trendsetters' since they decide which papers deserve to be published. To make money, one must set novel trends, like Christian Dior or Levi's in fashion, and open new markets, for example in Asia. In doing so, the publishers tend to supplant both national and transnational funding agencies in defining science policy. In many cases, these agencies tend simply to adopt the commercial criteria defined by the journals, forever eager to improve their impact factors. It is not obvious that the publishers of scientific journals, the editorial boards that they appoint, or the people who sift through the vast numbers of papers submitted to a handful of ‘top' journals are endowed with sufficient insight to set the trends of future science. It seems even less obvious that funding agencies should blindly follow the fashion trends set by the publishers. The perverse relationships between private publishers and public funding agencies may have a toxic effect on science polic

The impact of crime outcomes on public opinions on sentencing: in particular regards to recent One Punch legislation

Australia has recently experienced a punitive swing in sentencing policies and legislation. Consequently, politicians have responded favourably to popular demands for harsher sentencing. A comprehensive review of the current literature has been undertaken to understand why the community has adopted such a punitive position. It has been suggested that the media have hypersensitised the public into believing that crime is much more prevalent than it actually is, resulting in the individual fearing becoming a victim of crime. The public then chooses to elect politicians who appear to be concerned with their safety and the associated legislation. Expectancy/value theory contends that people\u27s behaviour is motivated by what they expect to occur and the values which they hold. Public opinion also affects the way in which the goals of sentencing including retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence and incapacitation or protection of the community, are prioritised. Retribution is generally the most favoured principle in sentencing and therefore pro-retributive policies tend to be more supported, both in the media and by the public. This literature review will discuss how public opinion has the ability to influence sentencing policy and legislation. The influence media has on how crime and sentencing are perceived will also be examined and the principles underlying sentencing were investigated. Relevant theories that explain individuals\u27 behaviour and what affects their values and opinions will also be discussed. Gender-specific disparities were investigated with respect to the type of sentencing goal people choose, to distinguish whether different genders prioritise the various goals of sentencing. Other issues discussed include factors influencing sentencing for offenders such as mitigating and aggravating factors, culpability, intentionality and foreseeability. This review of the literature aims to present an insight into how the opinions of individuals in society affect the manner in which sentencing is conducted. Academics have been intrigued by the relationship between public opinion and sentencing policy and legislation. The opinions of the majority of the public can have a substantial impact on the way in which legislation is created. Attribution theory contends that behaviour is the by-product of a person\u27s motives, expectancy and values. It has been argued that the attitudes that form a person\u27s opinion are heavily affected by the media. This is the only source many people have to access information about crime and sentencing legislation and policy. Sensationalised articles on violent crime can then produce a \u27fear of crime\u27 response in individuals, which leads them to support more punitive sentencing policies and the politicians who support them, to help ensure their safety. Sentencing goals are also affected by a person\u27s attitudes and opinions. The four primary goals of sentencing include: retribution, deterrence (general and specific), rehabilitation, and retribution. Research has argued that a gender difference may also be present in how people choose to view crime and which sentencing goals they prioritise. Other factors such as intention, foreseeability and outcome also affect the sentence that is handed down to an offender. The current study examined the responses to two scenarios with alternate outcomes. Both scenarios involved the offender punching the victim once and the victim falling to the ground. In one scenario the victim\u27s head hits the ground, he is knocked unconscious and later dies as a result of the injury. In the second scenario the victim received a couple of stitches, but is otherwise fine. This is in reference to the new law \u27Unlawful assault causing Death\u27 that was passed in WA in 2008. This study investigated two research questions. Firstly, would people sentence an offender more severely based on the outcome of their criminal act? Secondly, would female and male respondents view the crime differently and therefore feel the offender should be sentenced differently? Both parametric and non-parametric analyses were conducted on the results, as normality could not be assumed for all the questions. The results indicated that the aspects of the each case were viewed significantly differently in comparison to one another. Analysis of the responses revealed prison terms given to the offender in the \u27death\u27 condition were significantly greater than those given to the offender in the \u27no death\u27 condition. Surprising, analysis of the sentencing goals indicated that those in the \u27death\u27 condition favoured a rehabilitative approach to the sentence given, whereas those in the \u27no death\u27 condition favoured a retributive approach. Therefore, it can be concluded that the current study supports the contention that there is a significant difference in the manner in which a crime is viewed and responded to, based on the crime\u27s outcome. The study did not however, find a significant difference in the manner in which each of the genders viewed or responded to the crime

How Shall We Manage Our Journals in the Future? A Discussion of Richard T. Watson\u27s Proposals at ICIS 2004

Journals are the lifeblood of all academic professions, including information systems. At the 2004 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Rick Watson, then President of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), presented proposals for improving IS journal management that included accrediting reviewers, creating a market for journal articles, and moving our journals to the next level of Internet sophistication. This paper reports on a panel of journal editors convened at ICIS 2005 to discuss the Watson proposals and their implications. The editors were those of the Journal of the Association for Information Systems, the Journal of MIS, and Management Information Systems Quarterly in the United States and the Journal of Information and Technology in the United Kingdom. The paper presents their views and a reply by Watson

Scholarly Books: Their Production, Use and Evaluation in South Africa Today

Cite: Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), (2010). Scholarly Books: Their Production, Use and Evaluation in South Africa Today. [Online] Available at: DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/assaf/0035This consensus study addresses the world of book publishing in and from South Africa. It explores the special scholarly virtues of these works and the contributions they make to ‘the literature’ and to the general advancement of scholarship and science. It sets out to do this in a form that will be useful to practitioners and policy-makers alike, answering the many questions that have arisen in relation to such issues as optimal research practice, training, planning and resourcing.Academy of Science of South Afric

The Value of New Scientific Communication Models for Chemistry

This paper is intended as a starting point for discussion on the possible future of scientific communication in chemistry, the value of new models of scientific communication enabled by web based technologies, and the necessary future steps to achieve the benefits of those new models. It is informed by a NSF sponsored workshop that was held on October 23-24, 2008 in Washington D.C. It provides an overview on the chemical communication system in chemistry and describes efforts to enhance scientific communication by introducing new web-based models of scientific communication. It observes that such innovations are still embryonic and have not yet found broad adoption and acceptance by the chemical community. The paper proceeds to analyze the reasons for this by identifying specific characteristics of the chemistry domain that relate to its research practices and socio-economic organization. It hypothesizes how these may influence communication practices, and produce resistance to changes of the current system similar to those that have been successfully deployed in other sciences and which have been proposed by pioneers within chemistry.National Science Foundation, Microsof

Perceptions of Educational Leadership Faculty Regarding Open Access Publishing

There is a dearth of research on the perceptions of faculty members in educational leadership regarding open access publications. This reality may exist because of a lack of funding for educational leadership research, financial obstacles, tenure demands, or reputation concerns. It may be that there are simply fewer established open access publishers with reputable impact factors to encourage publication by members in the field. The current study seeks to answer the following question: “What are the perceptions of educational leadership faculty members in UCEA about open access publishing?” The results are based on responses from 180 faculty members in the field of educational leadership

A history of scientific journals : publishing at the Royal Society, 1665-2015

Funding information: For financial support, we thank the Arts & Humanities Research Council, whose grant (AH/K001841) funded four years of intensive research, by three postdoctoral researchers, at the archives of the Royal Society, among other places. We also thank the University of St Andrews open access fund, for support with the final publication of this book.Publisher PD