Universities Must Unite in Fighting the Academic Publishing Cartels

Academic publishing cartels - Featured

Introduction For decades, academic publishers have operated in a closed, profitable ecosystem where knowledge is packaged and sold back to the institutions that produce it. Scholars write, review, and edit academic content largely without compensation, only to have their own universities pay subscription fees or exorbitant open access charges to access the same work. Critics … Read more

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

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

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

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

Have the Commercial Academic Publishers Become Too Greedy?

Have commercial academic publishers become greedy - Featured

Introduction The world of academic publishing, long seen as a noble facilitator of knowledge exchange, is under fire. For many researchers, librarians, and policymakers, commercial publishers have come to represent not just a necessary partner but a deeply problematic one—an entity profiting immensely from a system built on unpaid labor and public funding. The core … Read more

How to Grow an Academic Journal: Strategies for Relevance, Reach, and Reputation

How to grow an academic journal - Featured

Introduction Running an academic journal is not just about increasing submission rates or publishing more frequently. It is about nurturing a respected, accessible, and impactful publication—one that attracts quality research, engages its community, and contributes meaningfully to its field. In the ever-evolving landscape of academic publishing, journals must adapt to scholarly trends and technological, institutional, … Read more