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Open science, Freedom of Information and the Big Journal monopoly (guardian.co.uk): The conflict between tobacco behemoth Philip Morris International and the University of Stirling is the latest in a string of clashes over access to research and the Freedom of Information Act. Professor Mike Baillie, a dendrochronologist, was ordered to hand over data to a city banker and climate crank, while UEA staff were caught out dealing rather unprofessionally with requests from conspiracy theorists.     Click here

Why Are Scientific Retractions Increasing? (wired.com): Since 2001, while the number of papers published in research journals has risen 44%, the number retracted has leapt more than 15-fold, data compiled for The Wall Street Journal by Thomson Reuters reveal. Just 22 retraction notices appeared in 2001, but 139 in 2006 and 339 last year. Through seven months of this year, there have been 210, according to Thomson Reuters Web of Science, an index of 11,600 peer-reviewed journals world-wide.     Click here

Can Textbooks be Replaced By E-Books? (technobuffalo.com): While e-books may have started off as just for casual reading on vacation, more and more titles are becoming available in digital form -including several textbooks. This school year, Amazon is even offering textbook rentals, where students can opt to "borrow" a digital copy of a book for a specified period of time rather than shell out the dollars for the full version of the book for class.     Click here

Will There Be eBooks in the Afterlife? (americaneditor.wordpress.com): Every once in a while we need to exercise our minds and imagine what our future will be like. We all know that at some point we need to say goodbye to our current existence and move on.     Click here

Did Apple Conspire with Book Publishers? (businessweek.com): While everyone is consumed with deciphering how the bid by Google (GOOG) to acquire Motorola Mobility Motorola Mobility (MMI) will affect the dominance of Apple (AAPL) in the smartphone market, Apple has other fights on its hands. A class-action lawsuit contends that Apple illegally maintained high prices for e-books when it agreed to the publishers' "agency model." Ironic, for sure-but illegal?     Click here