Dr Jekyll and Dr Hyde: author‐reader asymmetries in scholarly publishing

Abstract

The fundamental asymmetries of the journal system are reviewed and an examination is made of the differences between author and reader behaviour at both a quantitative and a qualitative level. Author productivity and so‐called “salami‐style” publishing practices are examined. An estimate of global author numbers is made. Reader and readership studies combined with bibliometric analysis allow the proposal of a means of estimating reading rates of journals.