Journal Article: “The Misalignment of Incentives in Academic Publishing and Implications For Journal Reform”
The article linked below was recently published by the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
Title
The Misalignment of Incentives in Academic Publishing and Implications For Journal Reform
Authors
Jennifer S. Trueblood (Indiana University), et al. (14 others)
Source
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
122 (5) e2401231121
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2401231121
Abstract
For most researchers, academic publishing serves two goals that are often misaligned—knowledge dissemination and establishing scientific credentials. While both goals can encourage research with significant depth and scope, the latter can also pressure scholars to maximize publication metrics. Commercial publishing companies have capitalized on the centrality of publishing to the scientific enterprises of knowledge dissemination and academic recognition to extract large profits from academia by leveraging unpaid services from reviewers, creating financial barriers to research dissemination, and imposing substantial fees for open access. We present a set of perspectives exploring alternative models for communicating and disseminating scientific research. Acknowledging that the success of new publishing models depends on their impact on existing approaches for assigning academic credit that often prioritize prestigious publications and metrics such as citations and impact factors, we also provide various viewpoints on reforming academic evaluation.
Direct to Full Text Article
Filed under: Conference Presentations, News, Open Access, Publishing

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.