Post #4952

Funding agencies can end profit-first science publishing Funding organizations can fix the science publishing system—which currently puts profit first and science second—according to research published on the arXiv preprint server. The new paper says the current relationship between researchers, funders and commercial publishers has created a "drain"—depriving the research system of money, time, trust and control. The research team used public revenue and income statements to assess the money being spent on publishing articles with the biggest commercial publishers, and placed this in the broader historical context, including recent trends. Published on arXiv, the paper examines the scale of publisher profits—with the four leading publishers (Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis) generating over $7.1 billion in revenue in 2024 alone, with profit margins exceeding 30%. Much of this money comes from public funds intended for research—and the new paper says bold action by funders is now essential. "The real solution is not for scientists to band together. We've tried that for 30 years and it hasn't worked—publisher profit margins have remained steady despite every attempted reimagining of science publishing," said Dr. Mark Hanson, from the Center for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter. "The funding agencies hold all the cards. They're the ones paying authors to do research, and journals to publish that research. They can mandate change. "Some already are. For example, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has proposed limits on how much it will reimburse researchers for payments to publishers to make their articles open access (free to read). "We researchers can support the battle, but we cannot lead the charge." Research funding often includes money to pay journal fees to make articles open access. With these fees rising, increasing amounts of research funding—which often comes from taxpayers—becomes publisher profits. Source:Phys.org @EverythingScience