Introduction: The Myth of “Building AI” There is a quiet but persistent illusion spreading across academic publishing. It usually begins with a familiar phrase: “We need to build our own AI.” It sounds ambitious. It sounds forward-thinking. It sounds like survival. It is also, for most publishers, completely misguided. The reality is far less glamorous. … 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 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
Introduction Walk into a modern publishing company and the change is immediately noticeable. Editors still debate manuscripts. Peer review still happens. Books and journal articles are still produced. Yet behind the scenes, the operational machinery increasingly resembles something closer to a software company than a traditional publishing house. Large publishing organizations now run digital platforms, … Read more
Introduction In digital publishing, the systems that carry content now decide much of its fate: identifiers, metadata registries, discovery platforms and repositories determine what gets found, cited and reused. This article explains why that infrastructure has become as important as the content itself, and what publishers should do about it. Key points For most of … Read more