jonny (good kind)Feb 19, 2024

For #Elsevier / #RELX and other massive industrial publishers, increase in paper volume in #APC-driven open access is the main source of growth that is presented to investors. More papers needed to stay afloat in always-increasing proprietary bibliometric sea, bigger profits. On the other end of the business, surveillance backed analytics tools to insurance companies and law enforcement is the biggest growth driver.

These are the companies we have paid billions in public money to over a generation. Another 13% hike in profits, now £3 billion annually. When will we find the courage to say enough is enough?

https://www.relx.com/~/media/Files/R/RELX-Group/documents/investors/transcripts/results-2023-transcript.pdf

Show threadjonny (good kind)

3 billion profit on 9 billion revenue is an absolutely monstrous profit margin. Higher than banks (JPMorgan: 28%), tech (Apple: 27%, Alphabet: 21%, Meta: 20%), fossil fuels (chevron: 15%, exxon: 13%) fintech, weapons manufacturers (Lockheed martin: 10%), prescription drugs (Merck: 24%).

Its so profitable because they do so little and are able to extort from so many. They were only able to develop into these surveillance driven profit megaliths because academics unconditionally paid for the privilege of prestige with public funds. Anyone who participates in this system needs to reckon with their role in propping up the core informatics platform used in ICE's deportation machine, in the new generation of biomedical surveillance tech used to opaquely deny coverage, and in the plunder and privatization of what should be the shared, global attempt to understand our reality.

Its not just about the papers, though thats the easiest thing to solve by an immediate unconditional boycott: nothing of value would be lost. We've spawned an industry that now squeezes the life out of the rest of what our research touches, medicine, law, energy, and the rest. Have we no courage, have we no shame?
#RELX #Elsevier

Feb 19, 2024 at 8:42pmWeb
Show threadjonny (good kind)Feb 19, 2024
If anyone wants to talk about "predatory publishers," youre looking at em. #Frontiers is nothing, they just play the game set up by the larger publishers. The call is coming from inside the house - #RELX is the one pushing higher article volumes every year. RELX is the one building the research intelligence platforms that set the value of research and researchers. Blaming #MDPI and #Hindawi and others not only misses the dynamics of the market, it plays directly into the big publisher's ad copy where they claim only they can protect Truth.
Show threadCarKettnerFeb 19, 2024
@jonny In addition, the big publishers make significant additional money from selling user data they are collecting through theory 'services' and platforms. You believe that this doesn't affect you? Be assured, once a day it will.
Show threadjonny (good kind)Feb 19, 2024
@CarKettner
Right thats what I mean by surveillance backed analytics tools in both posts. It already affects all researchers through SciVal and other research intelligence platforms rented by grant agencies and employers around the globe
Show threadDAFNEEFeb 20, 2024

@jonny
More and more of us have decided to do without these guys, and are trying to push in other directions:

https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ptpbio/article/id/3363/
https://peercommunityin.org/
https://dafnee.isem-evolution.fr/

When people will realize our careers are not negatively affected (they're not), system will change.

Show threadjonny (good kind)Feb 20, 2024
@DAFNEE
Yes it is happening! Ethical journals are good, they are one way we might move beyond journals altogether :)
Show threadDr Leonardo UiedaFeb 20, 2024
@DAFNEE @jonny that depends a lot on where you live. In Brazil, only publications in top journals (as decided by the Qualis rank) count for anything. So publishing in a small community led journal is essentially throwing away a paper (at least for progression and finding decisions). Even worse that we ran national journals low so we end up donating money to wealthy American/European publishers.
Show threadDAFNEEFeb 20, 2024

@leouieda @jonny

Yes, this kind of entirely quantitative evaluation based on article numbers and journal names is at the heart of the problem.

However, please note that many high-reputation journals are society journals (e.g. Science, PNAS) or non-profit journals (e.g., in biology, PLoS Biol, elife). At least in my field, one can avoid purely commercial journals (i.e., journals 100% run by for-profit publishers) while still touching a wide audience.

Show threadDAFNEEFeb 20, 2024

@leouieda @jonny

Add one paper out of ten in a truly disruptive journal (e.g. Peer Community Journal) to signal your commitment to open science and you'll have the perfect CV! :)

Show threadDr Leonardo UiedaFeb 21, 2024

@DAFNEE @jonny that's been my approach until now. But I have my own students now and I can't make the choice for them since a publication that doesn't officially count could mean the difference between getting a scholarship or not.

Sadly in geophysics many of the good society journals are run by big publishers. AGU is now Wiley and Royal Astronomical Society uses OUP. Both have insane APCs. Plos is not really an option in my field.