Introduction Academic publishing has always had an easy scapegoat: bad writing. When journals are overwhelmed, when reviewers are slow, when editorial timelines stretch into months, the blame often lands on the quality of submissions. Too many weak papers. Too many poorly structured arguments. More recently, too many AI-generated manuscripts flooding the system. It sounds convincing, … Read more
Introduction For decades, academic publishing has operated on a relatively stable economic logic. Publishers produce, curate, and distribute scholarly content. In return, they earn revenue through subscriptions, licensing agreements with libraries, and, more recently, article processing charges tied to open access. It is a model built around access. Access to journals. Access to databases. Access … Read more
Introduction: The Wrong Fear There is a comforting narrative floating around the publishing world right now. It says that AI is overhyped, readers still value human writing, and publishing will adapt just like it always has. That narrative is not entirely wrong, but it is dangerously incomplete. AI is not coming for publishing in the … Read more
Introduction Academic publishing did not collapse. It evolved, then quietly reorganized itself into something far more complex and far more controlled. What used to be a fragmented ecosystem of journals, university presses, and scholarly societies has gradually transformed into an interconnected network of platforms. This shift is not cosmetic or purely technological. It is structural, … Read more
Introduction Academic publishing has long relied on a narrative of stability and intellectual control. Editors read manuscripts, reviewers evaluate them, and decisions emerge from human judgment shaped by disciplinary expertise and scholarly norms. It is a system that presents itself as careful, deliberate, and grounded in reasoned evaluation. For decades, this framing has been repeated … Read more