Ethical Publishing: How Do We Get There?

The academic journal publishing model is deeply unethical: today, a few major, for-profit conglomerates control more than 50% of all articles in the natural sciences and social sciences, driving subscription open-access fees above levels that can be sustainably maintained by publicly funded universities, libraries, research institutions worldwide. About third costs paid for papers profit these dominant publishers' shareholders, about half them covers to keep system running, including lobbying, marketing fees, paywalls. paywalls turn restrict access scientific outputs, preventing from being freely shared with public other researchers. Thus, money told goes into science actually funneled away it, or used limit it. Alternatives this exist have increased popularity recent years, diamond journals community-driven recommendation models. These are free charge authors minimize agencies, while making peer-reviewed results accessible. However, agents made change difficult, co-opting schemes creating journal-driven incentives prevent an effective collective transition profiteering. Here, we give brief overview current state system, its most important systemic problems. We then describe alternative systems. explain reasons why move toward perceived as costly individual researchers, demystify common roadblocks change. Finally, view above, provide set guidelines recommendations academics at implement, order enable rapid ethical publishing.