ACADEMIA IS BROKEN! The publishing scandal happening right now

In this video I share with you the publishing scandal that happening right now and the power that academics have.
More reading:
journalofbiogeographynews.org...
journalofbiogeographynews.org...
retractionwatch.com/2023/07/2...
retractionwatch.com/2023/08/0...
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▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - for-profit publishing
2:53 - 85% work stoppage
5:28 - the response
7:39 - conclusions
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[@mendelovitch]

Alexandra Elbakyan should get a Nobel prize or something.

[@mendelovitch]

Oh, this just in: "Electronic Frontier Foundation to Present Annual EFF Awards to Alexandra Asanovna Elbakyan, Library Freedom Project, and Signal Foundation"

[@ascentcommunity3880]

Agree

[@DaLiJeIOvoImeZauzeto]

Been saying that for years, I couldn't do my thesis without scihub.

[@aahmed8767]

That's exactly what I was going to say, and have been saying for a long time..

[@FGBFGB-vt7tc]

@@DaLiJeIOvoImeZauzeto Here in Venezuela I still remember some years ago a friend of mine was doing her MSc. Thesis. Her Research group had to drop 38 US$ over a Paper with just a promising Abstract in a country where at that point that was two months salary for a Professor. Did not follow how the situation was resolved but I can guess they asked the Professors who wrote the article for a copy and they gladly gave it. Personally I have also benefited from Ms. Elbakyan's generosity. So I am grateful.

[@lolguy00]

as a Ph.D. student soon to be Ph.D., I always think the publishing process is a money grab.

[@RuslanLagashkin]

A scam, originally (from the very beginning) planned as a scam and surprisingly working for too many years.

[@mikloscsuvar6097]

Why are these for profit publishers necessary?

[@annaross1807]

As a STEM grad student, it has never made sense to me why we stick scientific works and findings behind expensive paywalls, while also asking scientists to cough up their own money to publish their results in the first place. Science builds on itself, and we are slowing progress by instituting publishing fees and paywalls. The argument from others is of course, “well, we have fees so editors and peer reviewers can get paid!”. Except they don’t, so that argument falls flat.

[@ThanksALott]

I now feel like most of academia is just an elaborate plot to funnel tax payers money into the hands of a few corporations. The most extreme being publishing. Maybe there should be institute or university owned non-profit journals for publishing. With all the OA fees my institute (luckily) pays each year you could easily hire an editor at the institute.

[@Hexanitrobenzene]

@@mikloscsuvar6097 They basically coast on the prestige of the journals they publish, nothing more.

[@mrivaden1972]

Hi Andy, I am a just resigned associate editor of JBI here. Thank you for helping spread the word about the journal's situation. But just as you said, this is a much larger war; the entire academic system is just broken. The owners of the editorial companies found the perfect economic model, where everybody else does the work for free, and they get all the profit. We, scientists, are modern enslaved people. But this slavery is not due to the editorial companies but our wrong perceptions of correctness in science; editorials exploit them. They count on our perception that it is fair that everybody has free access to the articles and that the review process should be done for free, as we were told. OA journals could be good for science if they share their incomes with us in different ways: i) one paper reviewed, one free paper to be published, ii) several papers reviewed, get pay for it, iii) one paper reviewed, donate to a pool young researchers with no previous experience publishing. A global strike on submitting and reviewing articles from journals with APC would hurt them where it hurts the most and would force them to negotiate. The old days of Egypt are gone; guys, we can do it!

[@rabbitsforyang8273]

have you heard about the Constructive Web project? rather than try to patch up the Pay to Publish model, can use the new Constructive Web mechanics to make publication and access free, charging subscription fees for users making Contributions (questions/challenges/edits) in a Pay to Contribute model, this way the authors and their collaborators share a pool of revenue with no overhead, while the more constructive interactions help improve publication quality

[@livingroompiano1849]

It's kind of weird that it took so long for some of the smartest people on this planet to figure out that they are taken advantage of...

[@kalhansb]

I am wondering why the university labs can't publish their own journals free of charge and open access. I am sure that university students will be happy to provide the administration, marketing and other stuff that is needed. Can't the university labs and groups around the world publish on their own, with time these journals will become respected and impactful which is accepted by the larger academic community. I always wondered why this is not happening. There would even be grants for this kind of effort, and even the academic projects can support such a effort in my opinion.

[@joseferrercosta]

I’m wishing for this new age of academic publication to allow us to publish our work with quality without being ripped off!

[@kkounal974]

​​@@kalhansb I'm guessing because traffic. It takes time to do marketing or build a reputation and an editorial team so if you just have a paper and want to share it with others, the fastest and easiest way is to get it published on some journal. However as we can see this doesn't mean people out there won't try to exploit it.

[@melissalamb1235]

I used to work for Wiley, although I wasn't directly involved with their journals. The management culture is nuts. Every few months they had some new convoluted way to rearrange the entire work place so that everyone was paid less or inconvenienced just a little more. They would proactively gaslight us and convince themselves they did everyone a favor. I'm not surprised at what this guy has to say and not surprised how they're responding to him. 😐

[@llothar68]

This improvements happen in every large company or government agency

[@itsgonnabeanaurfromme]

​@@llothar68no it doesn't. And so what if it happens to others? What a pointless comment.

[@vw9659]

The current system was created when all journals were hard-copy only. Journal publishing companies had to pay for things like type-setting, buying paper, binding, printing, mail, much like old-time newspapers. Nowadays all journals are PDF-based and online (although hard-copy journals often still exist in tandem too, for no good reason). Academics worked for free (writing, reviewing, editing) because that's the only way that the old system could work, whereby their work was published at zero cost to the academics (many journals do still publish for free). Publishing companies made their money solely from subscriptions (paid by the taxpayer-funded universities whose academics produced the work !). With PDFs, and academics now all being computer-literate, there is really no longer any need for journal publishing companies at all. Academic societies can run their journals by themselves, solely with academics still working for free as they always have (academics have never wanted to be paid for creating work for publication). There is free journal management software for them to use. And all distribution can be online, and free to everyone. At most you need some server space, which many universities would be happy to provide gratis. There are already some independent journals working completely this way. Journal publishers are dinosaurs. They will soon be extinct. Paid "OA"models will not survive, and should not be encouraged. Sci-hub and nexus have subverted the subscription model, taking away ill-gotten revenue. Universities are increasingly refusing to pay for subscriptions. Governments who fund research are mandating that the published research must be available to their taxpayers for free. The traditional journal publishing system is crumbling. Its extinction can't come soon enough.

[@fogbank]

That's what the World Wide Web was invented *for*, right?

[@allyourpie4323]

"Governments who fund research are mandating that the published research must be available to their taxpayers for free." The real issue is how many people think this way, rather than understanding that taxpayers are the ones paying for it. It's not free. Nothing can be done for free. It's already paid for by lots of people. They're double charging, and (with no offense) sentences like this are why people don't realize it.

[@nipph]

I would like to point out that publishers still pay for publishing, even if its still "just" PDF - for example they host things on their servers. I am quite sure its MUCH cheaper than it was back in a day when they had to release hard-copies, but it is not free for them, as you made it sound.

[@vw9659]

@@nipph of course in the current model publishers have servers and offices and staff (managers, copyright lawyers, accountants, IT staff setting up and enforcing paywalls; however I have never experienced any actually "editorial" work on a paper by a journal publisher's staff). But the huge profits that the publishing companies make shows that the cost of doing business is far less than the profit. If that were not the case, there would be far less scorn for the publishers, especially when academics provide publishers with the work to publish for free, as well as doing most of the review/editorial work (and sometimes even pay for the privilege). The point is that there are publishing models that are already being used by some journals (that have separated themselves from their original publisher) where the only necessary resources for online PDF publishing are being provided for much less cost. So university libraries for example might still pay subscriptions to academic societies who run their own journal, or not-for-profit publishers. But those subscriptions might only need to be 10% of the millions of dollars that many universities now pay yearly to publishers for all their subscriptions. The academics on editorial boards of their journals at the major current publishers owe it to the next generation of academics to extricate themselves from the publishing companies making obscene profits (mostly from taxpayer-funded research work done by academics and then sold back to their institutions, that are also often funded by tax-payers), or just leave and set up a new journal. Instead of going along with scam "open access" models that only serve to preserve publishers' profilts. Read the wikipedia page for Elsevier to see the growing number of editorial boards that have already resigned and set up new journals.

[@abtesk]

Thank you for the hint where to look. I was about to ask because you mentioned independent journals twice. Will definitely consider publishing there. The old model is ridiculous.

[@HOCM102]

This has been my issue with academia in general. Underpaid and overexploited. Either in teaching or researching and publishing, the vicious cycle of working in exchange for prestige just makes no sense.

[@Vgallo]

Why doesn’t it make sense? People get paid in prestige all the time, prestige results in better opportunities to make better money. I think you meant to say that only getting paid in prestige disproportionately advantages those giving the prestige and perhaps it’s exploitative, but it certainly makes sense and there’s definitely a rationale

[@navalfa7291]

@@Vgallo One of the academic was forced to spend 14 hours a day at work doing her research, gets paid less than $70 K for a post doc. position. Faced bullying and harassment from her supervisors. Faced uncertainty due to funding cuts. Finally she academia, now runs her own business. Now makes over $20,000 a month. She sells feet pictures on her only fans.

[@sevak1631]

Left academia after my first postdoc mainly because it became absolutely clear that the entire system is built on exploited labour, in universities, institutes, as well as publishing. At first I thought I could manage my way through it but it just became impossible to ignore and contributing to this system felt plain wrong.

[@johnsmith1953x]

Andy has a whole video on this.

[@drbulbul]

Why no mention of Elsevier's top-tier journal "Lingua", which turned into what was termed "zombie Lingua" when editors resigned and started publishing their own open access journal "Glossa" in 2016? I believe it was that "Lingua" that started the ball rolling.

[@Romogi]

Why not have a universal journal, and administration stops ranking researchers on which journal it gets published in?

[@HaoSunUW]

Well there would have to be a way to rank the value of research and people might get upset if work they think is significant is rated as mediocre. Which journal is a pretty good measure of the value of a paper for nonexperts. The lengthy submit get rejected submit again to different journal is essentially a longwinded way to decide the value of a research paper.

[@nelsblair2667]

Capitalism will centralize conditionally and decentralize conditionally. It seems to me obvious that publishing is better decentralized. Also note different topics.

[@Romogi]

I don't think measuring them is actually important as long the information is true. I think having the idea of the ability to measure quality or importance is imaginary.

[@b.r.1523]

​@@HaoSunUW Why does there have to be a way to rank research? Isn't that same ranking feature a common aspect of the dark side of academia? In our current system, you can get a trash paper in a high-impact journal just because it's from HHMI or has a top dog's name on it. And if you must rank, couldn't there be other ranking approaches? I personally would like to see it ranked in a more direct-democracy way using likes and dislikes, similar to social media/reddit. Any academic could get an account with a .edu email (or some verification to reduce bots), then give each scientist the ability to vote on what they think is good or not good. Add ads to pay for the funding so that scientists are not paying to publish nor to access. But then again, i don't think anyone else opinion should matter in your own determination of if a paper is clear and convincing or just a messy incomplete story. Read the paper and decide for yourself instead of trusting others.

[@whatisrokosbasilisk80]

Just arxiv with peer-review on top. Kinda speaks a lot to academic culture that the mere suggestion that "we don't always publish the sexiest stuff in the most prestigious venue" is some kind of revolutionary thought.

[@AlloftheGoodNamesAreTaken]

Glad to hear that there are people standing up. My boss (PhD) straight up told me I had no choice but to do work for free in many instances and she is perfectly happy with the idea of not getting paid. Of course, she also screams at employees and blames them for her own mistakes, so maybe she should reexamine her definition of happiness. I hope this action by the editors goes somewhere. (And before you say I should get a new job, you find it for me. I’ve been trying for half a year.)

[@musicspinner]

The longer you stay, the more damaging it'll be to you in ways you can't yet know. It's not worth it. Believe me.

[@AlloftheGoodNamesAreTaken]

@@musicspinner I know. But the job market is really terrible right now. Like I said, I’ve been applying for months.

[@sowhat9571]

In my MBA program, I'm facing frustrating issues in academia. I spend a lot of time trying to make my assignments look academic, but it leaves me questioning if I'm truly learning anything meaningful. The pressure to use fancy jargon and conform to certain ideas overshadows genuine learning and personal growth. I wish for a more balanced approach that values both academic rigour and practical application to learn useful skills for my future career. Additionally, in class, I feel compelled to agree with everything presented, as expressing alternative viewpoints can lead to penalties and hinder genuine intellectual exploration and critical thinking. I long for an academic environment that encourages open-mindedness and diverse perspectives, empowering students to question, challenge, and grow intellectually without fear of repercussions.

[@blogintonblakley2708]

MBA... you are studying for a business degree and you think academia is corrupt?

[@etornamtsyawo6407]

I feel understand you 100% because I share similar experience

[@zushaynafemi3234]

This is what I think of doctors today. Med students these days aren’t questioning, debating and thinking outside of the box. Just memorizing what’s in books.

[@victorugo3875]

​@@blogintonblakley2708What's your point?

[@blogintonblakley2708]

@@victorugo3875 Read my comment. The point is right there for all to see.

[@drury2d8]

Full power to the folks who bulk download articles and upload on torrents or open FTP servers. May science prevail

[@Hypernefelos]

That's moot when it comes to open access. All those articles are free to read, but scientists have to pay (a lot) to publish them.

[@k4s461]

I have never understood why highly trained academics are doing all this work for free and never get together for change. Especially because they can earn much more money elsewhere with their qualifications and work ethics.

[@MrPavangenius]

It is because they are too lazy and selfish. A good number of the for profit publications are considered prestigious places to publish. Senior faculty publish at these venues with relative ease. The faculty then use these publications to get additional funds for their future research projects. Therefore, there is no incentive to propose a change.

[@Heyu7her3]

Re. your last point: Not necessarily. Academics at R1 universities are paid very well as a result of the donations and grant money they bring in

[@GigiNYC11]

Grant money to do what? More fodder for journals? What gets published today is shitty at best and irrelevant.

[@texastexas4541]

@@GigiNYC11 It is more fodder indeed. Most publications are forgotten soon after they are published.

[@vw9659]

@@MrPavangenius Utter nonsense. Most research academics in my direct experience work much longer hours than anyone else I know. And get paid much less than people with equivalent qualifications in industry. There is however little incentive for most senior researchers to buck the publishing system, even though they have the power to do so. They have already spent their careers writing papers and peer-reviewing others for free (those tasks are not listed in their job descriptions). Just because that's what academics have always done. And if they're any good, they're getting their work published. So a change in how work is published would not affect most of them. However, many are now more aware that publishing companies are making billion dollar profits on the back of their unpaid work. And academics owe it to the next generation of researchers to effect change. As well as to taxpayers. The ridiculous system now is that taxpayers (mostly) fund research, and in public universities taxpayers also fund the salaries of academics, while those researchers actually write the papers and review others for free (the journals don't pay them for that work). That work then gets published in expensive journals, which the same university has to pay to subscribe to, in order that its students and other staff can read the work done by its own staff ! But change is starting to happen, as we see with the journal described in the video.

[@profdc9501]

The whole business of academic publishing, publishers, journals, editors, reviewers, etc. is so rotten to the core it is difficult to care about this. The fundamental problem is that the purpose of publication is no longer information dissemination; it is self promotion. I can't care about who is exploiting whom at a given time if the result is ultimately the same. The multitude of perverse incentives in academic publication inevitably makes the end product hopelessly flawed.

[@AlgorithmicEchoes]

Beautifully put!

[@hannahpemarose6474]

I’m halfway through my PhD, aiming to finish June 2024. I’ve always suspected this unfortunately, and when my advisor asked me what I see myself doing after my dissertation defense, instead of saying I’d like to teach or stay at the university as a post-doc (what a trap) I immediately said I’m going into INDUSTRY… I’m so sick of this rat race

[@navalfa7291]

Good luck to you sister. One of the best advise I got from my supervisor was to go to the industry after completing my Ph.D.. Never regretted it. Now Academics send me emails asking me to support grant applications for Industrial projects.

[@zebediahdahlke2569]

I had a similar path/thought process and I am on track to finish either this fall semester or early spring semester. I was able to find a company that was willing to hire me on and finish my Ph.D. research with them. I would highly recommend this as you no longer require the low grad student wage, and get industry experience at the same time. My Ph.D. is in engineering but I have a hard time believing that any worth while Ph.D.'s would have a hard time finding a job in industry while finishing up. (I was able to finish all course work before doing this, btw.)

[@lunam7249]

start your own company like many people, the $$$ is better and you can work schedual flexible....NO BOSSES!!❤❤😳😍

[@hannahpemarose6474]

@@lunam7249yes 100%! Now you’re speaking my language lol

[@MedlifeCrisis]

Nice video Andy, but I dunno…I’m not sure I’m as optimistic about this. I would LOVE to think it is the beginning of something big. I think social media is helping galvanise academics and I’m hopeful the younger generation will agitate for change, but in my field you still very much have to play the game in order to get ahead. The only way I could take a stand by replying to journals that I’ll only peer review if they pay me, or that we refused to pay publishing fees, is because I didn’t care about the outcome because I was leaving academia. For multi author papers or in a team, having one militant doesn’t work if the others aren’t on board. So many of my friends who are senior researchers, late 30s or early 40s, are still working for free for journals! I ask why and they know it’ll get them invites to conferences, places on panels, looks good on the CV…it’s hard to unpick how integral this is to the bread and butter of being an academic. But I hope you’re right. Would be great to see the balance of power shift to a more equitable position between journals and scientists. Pay peer reviewers and editors for a start!

[@itsgonnabeanaurfromme]

Correct. Medicine NEEDS medical journals. If you don't want to contribute for free, someone else will. Especially MDs and PhDs who are in it for the recognition. Hard to change the system. What's next? Patients respecting doctors? Doctors from rich countries recognizing the hard work and intelligence of doctors from third world countries? As if.

[@joseferrercosta]

It's deeply unfair to expect medical researchers, especially those juggling public system duties, to pay steep fees to publish work often done in our limited free time. The system must change. Action is needed now.

[@ObelixBarbatus]

How about page fees? Certain journals charge page fees and exorbitant subscription fees. Then again, universities are accomplices in this scam.

[@franciscotoledo0007]

Yes, universities are a big part of the problem. These lecturers and professors love to further the status quo.

[@rontheoracle]

Why stop at page fees? Just add word fees, punctuation fees, illustration fees, line-my-pocket fees as icing.

[@NERGYStudios]

You do realize how the healthcare sector and junk food businesses are so interconnected, right?

[@FGBFGB-vt7tc]

@@rontheoracle Shhhhh... don't give them ideas 🤣

[@ignatiolu863]

I think the more editors leave these predatory places, the better

[@yasha.hartberg]

I will probably be using this video in two of my classes this fall. Very timely!

[@kim15742]

The state of publishing in academia is precisely why I'm stopping at a Master's and going into industry. Whenever I tell this to someone outside of academia they are confused. The knowledge on this process needs to be public and you are doing a good job at this

[@eberaldo]

You are so very right in saying and doing this. My thoughts exactly, even though I like the idea behind academia (research, getting to learn new things, further our knowledge) I'm in shock about the lackluster state of it in general. Apart from the professors, there is really nobody getting paid for a thing really. Bachelors and Masters degrees are still fine, everything after is mostly already a scam, since you get paid a fraction of the time you really work. The professors are also slavers, forced to be by the system of external funding. With the scarce money they have, they need to have as much work done as possible, due to the publish or perish system. Therefore, let's give that one full time position to 2-3 PhD Students, let them run courses, do tutoring, evaluate tests and run labs, all while doing their own research to get their degree and publications. Each getting paid 33 % for full time or even more work, but the rest is in prestige for the degree, goodwill and some mysterious value you get back in the future for showing that you are a good and willing slave. Some publications with your name on them, that most people outside the grand circus do not even care about. I position paid, 3 times the work received, that's how academia works. You are already very much in the know about the PostDoc Thing, so I will refrain from going into detail. the publishing industry is just another entity exploiting the whole structure. They looked exactly at who the weakest links in the chain are and how to abuse them. They are even making poeple work for free and then pay to the access to their own work. It's really a business model to behold.

[@teejayare2980]

Best thing I did was to call it quits after the masters. Unless you want “professor” next to your name, there’s little value in doing a PhD. In fact, you also cut your potential employability because people will be either scared that you are smarter and will take their job, or, scared that they can’t pay you enough. And that’s their justification to not hire a PhD but instead a bachelor or, where research experience is required, masters.

[@Shaqiliciouss]

I started my Master's with the intention of going for a PhD. Like 85% of alumni do a PhD so it also just seemed like the logical thing to do, but the more I see and learn about academia, the more certain I become that I'm going right to industry after graduating in 10 months. I've been shamelessly exploited by academia as a student for the last 2.5 years already. I'm not adding another 4 years to that.

[@kenjones7719]

If journals want articles, they should pay for them.

[@nrk260717]

Please Talk about how science is now becoming a paper publishing business, most people just want more and more papers not actual science. How most papers have no hypothesis or good conclusions. 90% papers are just data reporting.

[@mellowfellow6816]

We live in the time of the internet. Why do we need journals at all?

[@francishunt562]

Probably just a physiological truth, but it is much easier on the eye(and so physically more comfortable) to read a physical copy than reading on a screen.

[@mindcache5650]

Unsurprising. The model is akin to Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Air BnB. Instagram. Platforms that have nothing. The users supply the content to the platforms and then get fleeced by advertising.

[@aalbayr]

I never knew where the motivation to do reviews and editorial work for journals came from anyway. The only motivation seems to be 1-to get to know the most up-to-date things people work on, 2-just being a good person and contributing to science, enjoying what you are working on. I'm glad someone brought this up.

[@scepticalchymist]

Reviewing is fine, since one also wants to get reviews. It can only work on a mutual basis.

[@CoronaryArteryDisease.]

This is one of the greatest barriers to the progress of our societies. How we solve problems as a society is how we survive as a society. There has got to be a way to reduce the corruptive effect of money on academia, because this is ridiculous.

[@toranshaw4029]

All power to them. I hope that this action helps to change the journaling industry.

[@TheKrzyniu]

finally! for ages I was puzzled how come academia gets so screw by publishers... internet is here... well tested by now, could someone please explain to me what do we need these publishers for now? They don't even provide editors...it's a joke [edit: to clarify, by editors I mean the work of an editor, like fixing typos, formatting to fit their style etc.]

[@Blues_Rockerman]

Awesome - finally people have spoken up and something is happening. I work in a Health system that struggles for funding, and yet we pay for clinicians to do research, pay their assistants, pay to publish, pay to subscribe to journals, pay people to review articles, pay some to be editors - all to give yet more profits to what is accepted as one of the most high margin businesses in the world. So it's not just academia that is on the hook - in Health it all means less funding to treat patients. I think there needs to be 'the State journal of science and humanities' (as searching is now easy across multiple sites so many individual journals are arguably less relevant) , run by individual Governments and free to access; publication is essentially free, however the researcher or department needs to gain credits from reviewing or being an editor to publish their second and future papers (and first if from further afield). Add in to that a 'crowd sourced' review - a star system from others who read the paper once published. Time for a new and fairer way to publish research, with all the benefits accruing to the producers and users of the literature.

[@stukennedy195]

I’m a software developer… previously a mathematician and so worked on the software Overleaf (LateX editor) a number of years ago. I’d be interested in looking at creating a new open access platform and finding a way to put revenue back into the system for editors/contributors etc. Do you think there would be any interest in this, if so gimme a shout. Would be interesting to discuss a way forward with this and decentralise away from these big corps.

[@arcotresearch]

I am interested

[@sarahasuquo-nkwocha786]

First view and first comment! 🎉 Pay for publish makes no sense. It's really frustrating for young researchers

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Thanks for your support!

[@DrBretPalmer]

This is so true. I'm a doctor in the UK, trying to get my research published in the last year, so hard as I can't afford ~£3k in fees... con.

[@anim8torfiddler871]

THANK YOU for highlighting this dilemma.

[@servicekid7453]

I was gutted when i left academia because it was what i had always wanted to do. In the decade and a half since, I have seen the whole sector descend further into the toilet and I thank god i got out (mostly) intact.

[@carefir]

Same thing with universities, and the bodies that rank universities, and... well, everything. The rot is deep and deeply entrenched. There is no more hope.

[@Xnshau]

I totally agree with you, I face the same issue when trying to send my paper to a journal, too expensive and I don't have that kind of money

[@cyrilio]

Very happy to see academics stand up to big publishing. It’s about time to break their power and move to a non-profit model.

[@patriciahayes2664]

Once again, corporate is destroying everything, even in the higher halls of education.

[@texastexas4541]

My prof used to tell me that it is prestigious to be the editor and ass editors of a journal.and these big guys send papers to be reviewed for free by other university measly professors who are desperate to become editors and ass editors. Why do they want such position for free? University administrators (especially (heads of dept) demand these measly profs to show more on their resume for any promotion or pay hike. So, everyone is playing a dirty role in it and the lowest ones get exploited more. To make it worse, this publish or perish attitude is forcing the lowest measly ones to make up things sometimes and write BS papers. My prof always told me to NOT believe 80% of what is published. If they get caught, they blame their tech or a student.

[@lunam7249]

😳😳😳😳❤️, now you see the big picture....the LUCIFERIAN ELITE, give lots of money to control what agenda is pushed, "climate change" is the big agenda now, write pro about it and the $$$ will come your way!!! say is a false premise and you will quickly become "homeless", and they might even "BLACKBALL" you!!! LEXIS NEXIS and WALMART computer servers along with the NSA servers in UTAH run a social credit score on everybody...once your blackballed you cant get a job....not just in your field, any job! even a 7-11!! reality!! ima post Ph.D. E.E. and synthetic virologist

[@AlgorithmicEchoes]

You are damn right. I'm an Indian academic and in the last 5 years the whole country has become one large paper mill operation. Academics who can't write 4 sentences of coherent English have become journal editors through 'networking' . Institutions are encouraging to beg, borrow, steal or sleep your way to an editorial board. In the name of research, all we do is publish literature reviews and bibliometric reviews. And as you said, the moment you submit a paper, you'll receive a paper for review from the editor. Nothing is said but everyone understands (without a word) that its quid pro quo. How you review determines whether your paper goes forth or gets rejected.

[@kuopiox9364]

FANTASTIC!!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS.

[@williama.jefferson197]

Great video Dr. Stapleton! Hopefully this momentum continues!

[@joseferrercosta]

Thank you for this video! I’ve been really feeling this growing frustration about how academic research has became a money making business for the publishers, while making it impossible for public small research groups with limited funding to publish their work! I really hope it’s a start of a revolution and that you’ll be making another video soon with the newly created journals by those editors daring to fight this unfair system!

[@guybeauregard]

Awesome work! Thank you for speaking so clearly and passionately about this broken system Cheers, Guy

[@Custodian123]

These publishing companies should be nationalised. They should not be for profit.

[@DanielaVargasRobles]

I am thrilled that this is finally beginning to occur!

[@buPnvi]

What about Zenodo? I am just starting my PhD and I saw this a long time ago, I thought it was incredibly counterproductive to have to pay to access journals, let alone pay journals so others could access the science freely. I say we adopt the Speedrun method: literally record everything, even up to the writing of the paper, and publish those videos, papers, and datasets all together. Sure, we're looking at literally thousands of hours of video per paper, but it'll be reproducible and available.

[@nerobernardino88]

As a philosophy major, I see this method is an absolute must, we are in an age where shitloads of content CAN be recorded, kept and shared easily, so this might improve the execution of science because other researches can, for example, learn not only from your research but also your method of research and even how your personality contributed to your research. Would it mean I would need to live with a gopro on my head recording every conversation and everything that gives me my wacky philosophical ideas? Yeah lmao.

[@buPnvi]

@@nerobernardino88 I did some napkin math. I downloaded a 1080p 60fps 24hr video using NewPipe (video 24 hr Minecraft Challenge: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4LIn4mnn7Soa7M) and it came out around 32GB. That ends up being around 12TB of video for constant recording for a full year. Assuming we can get away with ~480p, that's only 2TB a year. Obviously there's a caveat to file compression, type of media, etc, but it seems doable. Even if you only do 8 hrs a day 7 days a week it'll fit on a terabyte at 480p. As a computational chemist this would work out pretty okay for myself, but you could also have a dual setup or just hand pick specific videos, like synthesis, instrumental analysis, all that stuff.

[@Hexanitrobenzene]

Dunno, too much unstructured info... Everyone would be summarizing it with AI to get paper length content.

[@buPnvi]

@@Hexanitrobenzene I'm glad you said that, I was thinking it would be more like chaptered segments like KZbin. Full logs are available, but time stamps for specifically referenced material in the paper.

[@francisco.enguita]

Thanks Andy... I am associated editor of several journals, and we are feeling this as well inside. I am glad to have you here and thanks very much for your courage and determination. We need people like you around. Keep going. Cheers from Lisbon

[@dr.vanathiperumal8307]

Enjoyed. Yes, we hold the science power, knowledge and the workforce for humanity.

[@blade797]

I'm sick and tired of paying out hundreds per semester in codes and keys! It's ridiculous. $80 for Wiley, $100 for Pearson. $30 for Tophat. Our books are garbage after purchase with no resell value because the key is used, and the next student needs a key, which costs almost as much as a new book + key, so people just buy the new book for the key and used books are wasted. It's disgusting.

[@lukash286]

You ever heard of libgen? Better stay away from that site, I’ve heard you can get almost any book there

[@luckabuse]

Workers of the world unite!

[@vtron9832]

Researchers, editors, and reviewers of the world unite!

[@JamesDarlack]

I am so very much in support of standing up against predatory exploitation of the scholarly guild by publishers! Thank you for highlighting this. I do wish, however, that this was viewed as an objection to "open access." The offending issue is not OA, but rather the so-called "transformative agreements" that amount to a means of publishers exploiting the work of scholars MORE overtly than just accepting free labor by making them pay for the so-called "privilege" of publishing with their brand. Speak with your university librarians about the best way to participate in open scholarship that is not built on exploitation. Even more important, as you advance in the ranks, think twice before getting 'traditional' when it comes to reviewing the tenure and advancement of your peers. Set a high value on your peers and colleagues supporting non-exploitative publishers and journals. Start to actually see the reputation of these publishers as the smokescreen and mirrors that it actually is. NOTHING will change without scholars and schools actually changing the values and practices of the guild--and holding publishers to account. They cannot publish without the content provided by you, reviewed by you, and edited by you.

[@marsupialdungbucket]

I was the patient representative for a medical study that was recently published (I have no academic qualifications or experience). Since then I have been getting an average of 20 emails a day asking me, in the most flattering terms, to submit papers/ opinion pieces/anything. At first I was interested, having been an author/freelance writer/editor for a few years, but was amazed that they wanted me to pay for the privilege of giving them content to maintain their profit. Unlike any other part of the printing world. And don't get me started on the all expenses raised 'conferences'...

[@franciscogerardohernandezr4788]

Thanking for free time in hard specialized work goes in hand with thoughts and prayers from politicians.

[@NicolafromtheNorth]

Wiley by name but wily by nature eh? Would make a great subvertisement 🙂 New to your channel, fledgling PhD student in sociology. Sooooooo glad to have found this tribe, so thank you Andy.

[@davidjooste5788]

The pay to publish model is a disgrace.

[@Pabz2030]

No one should offer their services regularly for free, ever, regardless of whatever fake nonsense they are promised in return.

[@llai8501]

Hi Andy! I was scouring the comments on your Beard page to find out if youre ok as its been ages since we got new content but I can see this channel really taking off so congrats! Hope to get a beard update soon!

[@username42]

Recent advancements in the field of artificial intelligence have brought to light the shortcomings and inadequacies of academic research and education.Academia is currently facing difficulties due to recent scandals at Stanford and resignations at publishers like Wiley. Despite these challenges, the expectation to publish or perish is still a reality for many recent graduates and those residing in low-income countries.

[@Andreas-gh6is]

One reason the publishers are going to win this fight is that academics hate getting organized almost as much as they hate working together. They won't be able to come up with a well-run journal. Even if they can, sometimes this does happen for a while at least, then the impact factor is so low that those who publish there risk their careers.

[@Sallyy150]

Absolutely agree! Publishing is greedy, but academics are an easy target to be used, they should pause and reflect on why are they being used in the first place

[@carlbrenninkmeijer8925]

Thanks !!😊

[@ruby__2879]

I wasn't really aware of the scam, this is a great video!

[@deonbotha5020]

In the end it is all about greed. Take as much as possible while it last!

[@user-ru7qq2gp5f]

I previously added a comment with a link to my site included in it, and then discovered later it was no longer here. As this was my first comment that I've ever left on KZbin, I did not know that violated the Community Guidelines, which I have now read and which makes sense. I wanted to take responsibility for my mistake, and say sorry. The short version of my previous comment was - thank you for a great video. The long version had too much emotional labour underpinning it to re-share. Again, thank you for your truth speaking.

[@SEELE-ONE]

The biggest irony is that in this particular revolution, the scientists always held the means of production 😅

[@Elkington7]

From farmers to scientists, it seems like almost everyone is getting fed up with corporate greed.

[@nissacita3178]

good to point out this is just the tip of the iceberg!

[@drangelapuca]

I'm so glad to hear this is happening! As a Religious Studies PhD, I've had to work for free so many days to get my publications out there.

[@kuu2856]

Didn't expect to see you in these comment sections.

[@johnfrancis9668]

I worked One semester as an adjunct professor. I quickly saw the problem with the educational system and got a real job.

[@ssake1_IAL_Research]

As an independent researcher, I am doing pioneering research which challenges the status quo. My work is studiously ignored by Academia for the sole reason that it is too controversial and would rock the boat. This is also a form of fraud, and another indication that Academia is broken.

[@chandelier6811]

What kind of research?

[@thorebergmann1986]

My research is like my child, why should I sell it and give other people the right to do with it whatever they want?

[@michaelt2397]

Well said.

[@christopherneufelt8971]

This is a great news. Bravo to the companies! All of the time most of academics continued to publish papers via the publishers instead of open in internet by using their own regulated service. Let them enjoy their poison. Thanks for the feel good story.

[@TomasOlivaMusic]

I have never understood the reasoning behind the need to pay to have an article published in an online journal. I would understand the publishing fee for journals with physical copies. I would understand it if the journal was 100% open access. However, since most charge 60-200 bucks for limited access to a paper, I just assumed publishing was a for free. I was so naive...:D

[@kami-neko]

Publishing is for free in many fields. What is not free are the journal subscriptions and this is understandable up to certain point (cost of formatting, cost of archiving etc.). Simple immediate available solution: "green" open access where all preprints and corrected preprints are available in a server.

[@MoAlarawi]

By far one of the best content about the science production and publishing. I think it is time to claim back the scientific publishing domain and not industry. 😊

[@cocovanloco996]

FYI: Something similar happened in neuroscience with NeuroImage. The editors resigned and started their own journal

[@justaname999]

At last some of the more influential people in various fields are speaking up! This and other similar recent developments give me at least a bit of hope. I've had a highly-influential tenured professor, who really has opinion-making power in my field, say to me during a discussion of similar issues that their hands are tied and they cannot do anything against the publishing system anyway so they have to play by the rules. Which is only keeping the system in place. If not these people, who?! If they decide to look at actual quality of publications instead of just evaluating by impact factor and name plate prestige of the publications, us early career people would feel less pressure to only publish in the highest impact journals. We could instead go for some of the newly founded independent but still rigorously peer-reviewed journals that are springing up in the field. When people put the impact factor of a journal next to their pubs in their CV like it's supposed to mean *anything*, there is something extremely wrong with the system and we're all tacitly endorsing it if we let that ever impress us.

[@johnbarryyallagher1128]

Open access cuts into already small grant budgets, which should go to the project or support students or postgrads

[@blogintonblakley2708]

What do you know about the homeless problem in the USA? I mean the source of the problem?

[@someonespotatohmm9513]

Open acces is not the problem. Donating money to the companies is.

[@blogintonblakley2708]

@@someonespotatohmm9513 Donating money to companies is not the problem. Ever notice that civilizations rise and fall? Ever wonder why? That "why" is the real problem... not the details you and the OP are discussing. What you are both noticing and not facing is that the US experiment has failed. It's way more important that you realize that and face it, than worrying about open access or companies getting free money. What I'm wondering is, if you can actually pin down what that "why" is? It's right there in both of your ideas.

[@hansdietrich1496]

Absolutely agree. I'm waiting for a stackoverflow of science publications.

[@salahidin]

The reality is that we don't need those publishing companies to make quality science.

[@yakaridubois3378]

Let's hope editors from other journals will follow the lead!

[@kami-neko]

One should try to publish with non-profit academic societies, which also unfortunately are copying this awful "Gold Open Access Model" that some sell-outs have been pushing forward in the past ten years.

[@Catata123]

Fed up indeed!

[@DoctorLoganPhD]

I hope you are right about this being the start of something revolutionary. In order to truly take hold, however, a lot of entities need to be on board. We are still living by the impact factor. The higher impact journals can charge more money to authors as a way of having the authors buy citations in a supply-and-demand situation. I admit, I am afraid to publish in journals that don't charge an APC and are open access because to me it feels like they are begging for attention. Psychologically, it feels like those journals are the "losers" in the game, so I should stay away. We need a full paradigm shift. As much as I recognize the need for change and truly desire it, I am also timid about participating in it because I am afraid of becoming a martyr for the cause.

[@joseferrercosta]

Let´s do it! I´m not sure how, but the first step is to join forces, right?

[@graxxor]

First thing I did after getting my PhD was to move out of research into IT.

[@shawnb4745]

When I had my first paper published, I was shocked that they charge so much for open access. I think my embargo period has passed.

[@kalhansb]

I am wondering why the university labs can't publish their own journals free of charge and open access. I am sure that university students will be happy to provide the administration, marketing and other stuff that is needed. Can't the university labs and groups around the world publish on their own? with time these journals will become respected and impactful which is accepted by the larger academic community. I always wondered why this is not happening. There would even be grants for this kind of effort, and even academic projects can support such an effort in my opinion.

[@abj136]

These corporations are obsolete. Printing is not hard any more. Academics can do the editing. Peer review can continue. The professors can organize themselves, publish themselves, and prestige of the journal will follow the quality of the contributors. Open Access will be free.

[@jayeifler8812]

It's a good point. 15 years ago we were talking about this and nothing has happened. I read articles constantly in my area, but yeah I can't always get articles. Funny, authors don't even really want to share too much of what they are working on either. So yeah the collaborative atmosphere is really changing just at a time when more research is really going on. They won't fix it I don't believe, it must just break all the way and then something new will be started. You know the goals have changed in science over the last several decades.

[@franciscotoledo0007]

Make academics great again! But seriously, all the unis in which I studied wanted me to use these publishers, shame on these universities.

[@acerrubrum5749]

Geez, academics get a Union. Labour negotiations with University's and Journals. "No need for a Union, management will fight for my best interests" said no sane person ever. One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts. Funny how you never hear Union workers complaining how good non-union workers pay, benefits, pension, working conditions, terms of employment are.

[@raahauge]

Union workers are not complaining, cause those of us who don't like unions, have left long time ago.

[@captainspirou]

Originally these journals were non-profit. Any fees charged were just to pay for printing and distribution. Then major publishers bought them up and started increasing subscription fees that universities paid. It’s truly criminal

[@revoltoff]

Biggest joke right now is ''academia'' I hate that I have to finish because otherwise I am in some trouble financially with government, I will force myself to finish purely because of that reason but other than that, anyone that values a ''phd'' 95% of the time it's just a big fat joke in 2023 and moving onward!

[@arteasa]

1 month salary just to publish😒

[@lokeshgnanasekar]

Alexandra Elbakyan doesn't need Noble prize! Noble price need HER 💯

[@kayleyjaworska2134]

thanks for the vids as usual Andy! Any chance you could do a vid on marketing yourself as a young academic? Linkedin or whatever you recommend :)

[@scottmiller2591]

Good. No one needs journals anymore.

[@dogmatika7]

Word!

[@Chareidos]

Take out the middleman that serves no other purpose as being a gatekeeper or hub-owner profiting of others free work!

[@suchismitakar2154]

That's the first approach 😂