Scholarly

The Future of Academic Journals: Is the Traditional Model Breaking Down?

by
The future of academic journals - Featured

Introduction Academic journals have long been the gatekeepers of scholarly knowledge, shaping careers, setting research agendas, and determining which ideas gain traction in academia and beyond. For centuries, this model remained remarkably stable: researchers submitted manuscripts, peer reviewers vetted them, and publishers printed and distributed the final product, mostly to institutional libraries. Prestige followed citation … Read more

How Academic Publishers Make Insane Profits by Making Others Pay for Publicly-Funded Research Publications

by
How academic publishers make insane profits - Featured

Introduction There’s a bizarre paradox at the heart of academia: governments and institutions spend billions funding research, universities pay scholars to write, peer reviewers work for free, and yet, when it’s time to access the final article, you still have to pay a publisher. Sometimes a lot. How does that make sense? The academic publishing … Read more

Publish or Perish in Academic Publishing: Is the Crisis Here to Stay?

by
Publish or perish in academic publishing - Featured

Introduction The phrase “publish or perish” in academic publishing has become a kind of mantra—ominous, omnipresent, and seemingly unshakable. It encapsulates a reality where scholarly output is no longer just a means of sharing knowledge but a metric for academic survival. For early-career researchers and tenured professors alike, the pressure to churn out publications is … Read more

Are We Being Manipulated with Toxic Academic Publishing Metrics?

by

Introduction Academic publishing has long been guided by metrics. From impact factors and h-indices to citation counts and journal rankings, these numerical indicators are often treated as gospel in evaluating research quality, institutional performance, and even individual academic careers. For many scholars, these metrics determine not only where to publish but how their work is … Read more

Plan S and Academic Publishing in Europe: 2025 Update and Future Outlook

by
Plan S and academic publishing in Europe - Featured

Introduction The European academic publishing landscape has undergone seismic shifts in recent years, with open access (OA) reform taking center stage. Plan S is at the forefront of this transformation, a bold initiative launched in 2018 by cOAlition S—an international consortium of national research funders and charitable foundations. Its mission? To make all publicly funded … Read more