Introduction Academic journal publishing has never been easy. But as we settle into 2025, what used to be slow-moving tectonic shifts have turned into a full-blown earthquake. Publishers, editors, and scholarly communication managers are grappling with open access mandates, AI-generated submissions, shrinking funding, and the ghost of predatory publishing. The peer review system groans under … Read more
Introduction Once a sleepy corner of scholarly life, academic publishing has become a theater of controversy, disruption, and outsized profits. It’s a multibillion-dollar industry with a monopoly-like grip on knowledge, steered more by business models than scholarly ideals. At the same time, it’s facing mounting pressure from researchers demanding open access, institutions exploring alternative platforms, … Read more
Introduction It might sound like the setup to a particularly dry economic satire, but here’s a bold claim: running an academic publishing house can be more lucrative, at least on paper, than running Apple Inc. That’s right. The folks putting out journal articles about medieval plant taxonomy or nanoparticle simulations may be quietly outpacing the … Read more
Introduction Academic publishing has always worn a veneer of nobility. It presents itself as the beating heart of global research, the engine behind scientific discovery, and the bridge connecting ivory tower ideas to real-world impact. But strip away the Latin mottos, the peer-reviewed gloss, and the library branding, and you’re left with something that looks … Read more
Introduction The world of academic publishing is not as scholarly as it seems. Beneath its refined surface of peer-reviewed journals and citation indices lies a business model that increasingly resembles a fortress of exclusivity. At the heart of this structure is an oligopoly: a small number of powerful publishing houses dominating a global knowledge economy, … Read more