Jason Thatcher (He/Him) • 2nd
Parent to a College Student | Tandean Rustandy Esteemed Endowed Chair, University of Colorado-Boulder | TUM Ambassador | Professor, Alliance Manchester Business SchoolOne concern that I have with the broader discourse on publishing, is that many academics don’t understand the tremendous overhead that comes with supporting journals - while there is no doubt the publication system needs reform - we all need to be aware that this is not a cost less system - in fact - it’s very expensive to sustain.
So if we disassemble what we know, what will come next? And how will we know it will be better?
Bc many forms of Open Access have failed as a model
So if we disassemble what we know, what will come next? And how will we know it will be better?
Bc many forms of Open Access have failed as a model
13 Replies on Jason Thatcher’s comment
Timo Lorenz (he/him)Author
Juniorprofessor in Work and Organizational Psychology | Researcher | Psychologist | Academic Leader | GeekYes, researchers are paid, but those funds are for conducting research, supporting students, managing labs, and publishing results—not for peer review work. Grants often cover salaries, equipment, travel, and publishing fees, but they don’t compensate for the extensive peer review process.
I receive about 5 review requests a week, which could take 20-30 hours to complete. Imagine working for your employer, then spending an additional 20-30 hours working for another company without compensation, while that company profits from your work. This is essentially what happens in academic publishing.
The issue is that scientific publishing is a highly profitable industry built on the unpaid labor of researchers, without fairly redistributing the value created.
I receive about 5 review requests a week, which could take 20-30 hours to complete. Imagine working for your employer, then spending an additional 20-30 hours working for another company without compensation, while that company profits from your work. This is essentially what happens in academic publishing.
The issue is that scientific publishing is a highly profitable industry built on the unpaid labor of researchers, without fairly redistributing the value created.
Jason Thatcher (He/Him) • 2nd
Parent to a College Student | Tandean Rustandy Esteemed Endowed Chair, University of Colorado-Boulder | TUM Ambassador | Professor, Alliance Manchester Business SchoolTimo Lorenz that is the path that I struggle to see.
The publishers extract excessive rents from academics.
They need to invest some
Of their profit in
A) building scholarly communities
B) supporting participation in scholarly communities
C) encouraging our employers to acknowledge the work we do pro bono and more.
And
D) charge less for access?
The publishers extract excessive rents from academics.
They need to invest some
Of their profit in
A) building scholarly communities
B) supporting participation in scholarly communities
C) encouraging our employers to acknowledge the work we do pro bono and more.
And
D) charge less for access?
