Dr Freddie Foulds
LightNews LightNews
banner
drfrederickfoulds.bsky.social
Dr Freddie Foulds
@drfrederickfoulds.bsky.social
72 followers 130 following 14 posts
Palaeolithic Archaeology, currently between jobs. Interested in using digital technologies to trace social traditions in the Acheulean. Specialist in the lithic technologies of the Lower Palaeolithic.

Nerd posts: @judgefredd.bsky.social
Posts Replies Media Videos
drfrederickfoulds.bsky.social
Interesting start to 2025 seeing the Editorial Board of JHE resign en masse. I support their exceptionally difficult decision in the face of what can only be described as a profiteering company blatantly trying to make the largest amount of money from the smallest degree of intellectual oversight.
Journal of Human Evolution: Resignation of the Editorial Board For over four decades, the Journal of Human Evolution (JHE) has been the flagship journal in paleoanthropological and human evolution research. The longstanding success of JHE rests on the exemplary scholarship of its authors supported by extensive labor on the part of the Editorial board (EB). Elsevier has steadily eroded the infrastructure essential to the success of the journal while simultaneously undermining the core principles and practices that have successfully guided the journal for the past 38 years. While the EB has accommodated the reduction of services to the journal since the early 2000s, the pace has accelerated over the last 10 years to a point that is no longer tenable. Journal history: Journal of Human Evolution, founded in 1972, was reorganized in 1986 to provide greater scholarly attention to and control of the review, revision, and publication of research in the journal. Recognizing that research in human evolution represents a globally diverse community of scholars, two editors-in-chief from different countries took the helm, a structure that has been in place ever since. These editor-scholars purposefully established a working EB of Associate Editors—not an 'editorial board' in name only, without editorial oversight as had led to the initial foundering of JHE—but a group of active scholars expertly capable of handling submissions covering a wide range of topics in a field that is highly interdisciplinary and demands a mix of both broad and fine-scaled expertise. Thirty eight years later, JHE has an impact factor of 3.1 and Scopus cite score of 6.3, both the highest in the field, and has maintained an acceptance rate of ~50%; excellence that results from a set of sustained core principles. JHE’s core principles: Since 1986, JHE has been guided by this set of core principles and structures: 1) the journal is overseen by two editors-in-chief who are committed to journal quality and in… scholarly decisions, including recruitment and retention of the expertise necessary to oversee the review process. Elsevier’s control of the process has already resulted in reduction of the EB through non-issuance of contracts and attendant lack of access to the paper management system; and in the failure to advance the Early Career Review Board and Fellowship, which was created and approved by the EB in September of 2023 to help support professional development of early career scholars. In November of this year, Elsevier indicated it would no longer support the dual-editor model that has been a hallmark of JHE since 1986. When the editors vehemently opposed this action, Elsevier said it would support a dual-editor model by cutting the compensation rate by half. In parallel, the editors have been raising concerns for years about the cost of Open Access (OA) in JHE and the impact on submissions.1 Elsevier’s APC charges in JHE ($3990 excluding taxes on the JHE website) remain out of reach for much of our authorship, with Elsevier outsourcing its production process to low-quality companies while charging publication fees well in excess of discipline-comparable Elsevier-published journals (e.g., International Journal of Paleopathology: $1910; Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Reports: $2265; Palaeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology: $3110; Journal of Anthropological Archaeology: $3270;), compared with broad based open access journals such as Scientific Reports (IF: 3.8; APC:$2590), and compared with production costs for nonprofit publishers. Given these high charges, and the negligible number of Elsevier OA agreements, especially in the US, the net effect is that only a small portion of JHE authors can afford to make their science widely and publicly accessible, which runs counter to the journal’s (and Elsevier’s) pledge of equity and inclusivity. Despite high APC charges and reduced and out-sourced production, the work of copyediting nonetheless falls to the ed…
January 2, 2025 at 9:36 AM
drfrederickfoulds.bsky.social
With a bit of help and instruction, I was able to knock out this last year at one of James' courses held at Cresswell Crags.
A replica handaxe, produced by the author with guidance provided by Dr James Dilley.
November 15, 2024 at 1:11 PM