Introduction The academic publishing world has long been dominated by the Global North: think of those large, commercial, and often wildly profitable publishing houses headquartered in North America and Western Europe. This dominance has created a landscape where the knowledge, research questions, and institutional contexts of the Global South—a term generally encompassing countries in Africa, … Read more
Introduction It’s a question many academics ponder, often while staring at a five-figure invoice for a journal subscription or an equally outrageous article processing charge. We, the researchers, write the articles, peer review them for free, and serve on editorial boards for no financial gain. The entire enterprise, from conception to final manuscript, is a … Read more
Introduction Academic publishing often portrays itself as a noble enterprise, a guardian of human knowledge tasked with preserving discoveries and distributing wisdom across the globe. This image is polished, sophisticated, and deeply entrenched in the way universities, governments, and the public think about scholarly communication. But anyone who has tried to publish an article, access … Read more
Introduction By 2030, academic publishing will have already shifted dramatically. Open access mandates are dismantling paywalls, AI-driven peer review is attempting to patch the holes in an overloaded system, and researchers are finding new ways to publish data alongside traditional articles. Yet, for all this talk of innovation, the publishing world is still wedded to … Read more
Introduction Academic publishing likes to wrap itself in the noble image of serving humanity’s collective pursuit of knowledge. On paper, it sounds like an almost utopian enterprise: researchers dedicate years to producing groundbreaking work, journals distribute that knowledge to the world, and everyone benefits. In reality, the system looks more like a luxury toll road … Read more