Scientific publishers are producing more papers than ever
Concerns about some of their business models are building
SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING has long been a money-printing operation, with many big publishing houses reporting profit margins of between 30% and 40% year after year. The long-standing business model is watertight. Articles, which are written and reviewed by academics, are locked behind paywalls. Universities and research institutions then pay through the nose for access to them via subscriptions that cost millions of dollars a year.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Paper trails”
From the November 23rd 2024 edition
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