Scholarly

How Greedy Academic Publishers Help Predatory Journals Thrive (And Why No One’s Stopping Them)

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Greedy academic publishers

Introduction Predatory journals are the cockroaches of academic publishing. Universally condemned but remarkably resilient, they promise quick publication, fake peer review, and a smooth ride to academic legitimacy—for a fee. They’re the parasites of scholarly communication, but they’re thriving in part because the host itself is sick. Behind this plague lies a deeper, more uncomfortable … Read more

Running a Scholarly Journal is Not Easy. Here’s Why.

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Running a scholarly journal is not easy - Featured

Introduction From the outside, running a scholarly journal might look like a respectable side gig for seasoned academics—review a few articles, polish some editorial notes, publish a couple of issues a year, and voilà: knowledge is served. Reality, of course, is far messier. Behind every published article lies a network of frantic email chains, delayed … Read more

Tracing the History of APCs: Why Authors Now Pay to Publish

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The history of APCs - Featured

Introduction Article Processing Charges, or APCs, have become the currency of the open access publishing world. If you’ve dabbled in academic publishing or even just followed the debates around open access, you’ve likely encountered this term. APCs are fees charged to authors to make their research freely accessible to readers, flipping the traditional subscription model … Read more

Is Plan S the White Knight for Open Access Publishing?

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Plan S and open access

Introduction The quest for open access (OA) in academic publishing has been a turbulent journey, filled with passionate advocates, wary publishers, and cautious funders debating how best to unlock scholarly knowledge for the benefit of all. In this arena, Plan S has emerged as one of the most ambitious and controversial initiatives of recent times. … Read more

University of California vs. Elsevier: The 2019 Revolt Explained

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University of California vs. Elsevier - Featured

Introduction Not many academic disputes get coverage in The New York Times, inspire hashtags on Twitter, and trigger late-night strategy sessions in research labs from Berkeley to Berlin. Yet in 2019, the University of California (UC) did just that when it told Elsevier—arguably the most powerful scholarly publisher—to take its $10-million-a-year subscription bill and kindly … Read more