Reports: Academic Publishers Face Class Action Over ‘Peer Review’ Pay, Other Restrictions

Ed. Note: We will be updating this post with additional coverage, statements, and filings as they become available. Please check back.

From Reuters:

University of California Los Angeles neuroscience professor has sued six major academic journal publishers, claiming in a proposed class action that they violated antitrust law by barring simultaneous submissions to multiple journals and denying pay for “peer review” services.

Professor Lucina Uddin [UCLA] filed the lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court on Thursday against Elsevier, John Wiley & Sons, Sage Publications, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis and Wolters Kluwer.

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Scholarly journal submissions are reviewed by other experts in the author’s field to vet their submissions for publication and comment on their findings. Uddin said that the practice of not paying scholars for peer reviews amounted to unlawful price-fixing.

Learn More, Read the Complete Article (about 400 words)

Additional Coverage

• Elsevier, Other Publishers Hit With Peer Review Services Lawsuit (via Bloomberg Law, subs only)
• ‘Illegal Conspiracy’?: EDNY Antitrust Class Action Challenges Publishers’ ‘Unpaid Peer Review Rule’ (via NY Law Journal)
• Scientists File Antitrust Lawsuit Against Journal Publishers (via IHE)

Resources

• Full Text of Complaint (42 pages, PDF; via RECAP/CourtListener)
• Case Docket  (via CourtListener)
• News Release From Lieff Cabraser Heimann &  Bernstein (Counsel for Plaintiff and Proposed Class)

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Elsevier, News, Reports, Springer Nature