{"id":7736,"date":"2023-03-24T22:10:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T15:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indowhiz.com\/articles\/?p=7736"},"modified":"2023-04-01T14:53:35","modified_gmt":"2023-04-01T07:53:35","slug":"criticisms-scientific-journal-pricing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indowhiz.com\/articles\/en\/criticisms-scientific-journal-pricing\/","title":{"rendered":"Criticisms of Scientific Journal Pricing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scientists publish their research findings<\/a> in these things called scientific journals. However, these journals make a lot of money even though not many people read them. For example, RELX, the parent company of Elsevier, has earned about $3 billion profit in 2022<\/a>. Some people think that\u2019s not fair because these journals charge too much to publish or read the articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The criticisms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Reputable journals charge a lot of money to publish or read articles. But most people don\u2019t get how journal publishing works or what it costs. That\u2019s why many authors complain about scientific journals making too much money for different reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the work of scientists and reviewers for free<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When a scientist writes an article<\/a>, they send it to a journal to get it published. The journal then asks other scientists to check the article and say what they think about it. This is called peer review, and the reviewers<\/a> don\u2019t get paid or do it as a favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the reviewers don\u2019t get paid, the journals make money from publishing the articles. This has made some people think it\u2019s not fair that journals are getting rich from the free work<\/a> done by scientists and reviewers. Some say that peer reviewers should get paid<\/a> for their hard work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even worse, the publishers sell the articles back to institutional and university libraries, where they are read by the scientists who also wrote them in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinders scientific progress<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some people think that journal pricing will slow down<\/a> scientific progress. This is because journal fees are usually high, limiting the options for some people to read research articles. As a result, some researchers may miss out on important articles in their area which can make things go slower. There have been requests for changes to this system to make research easier to get and fairer for everyone involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sci-hub and its controversy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To get around the high price of knowledge (illegally), a science student made a website called Sci-Hub<\/a>. Right now, it is the biggest pirate site for academic articles. In short, Sci-Hub lets anyone read any book or journal article (even paid ones) for free, anywhere at any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, some people are mad at Sci-Hub because it breaks the copyright law. Many academic publishers have sued Sci-Hub for stealing their stuff. Even though it got sued twice by big American academic publishers for stealing a lot of articles, the site still works. This started a big public argument about Sci-Hub\u2019s role in giving free access to knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On one hand, many researchers around the world use Sci-Hub to read articles they can\u2019t afford. But publishers say they also do important things, like host peer reviews and editing articles. So, they should get paid for their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sci-Hub
Sci-Hub website allows you to find paid books or articles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Publishers offers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, running a journal is not free. They have a lot of things to manage. Especially with so many extra stuff publishers must pay for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Learn more about the hidden costs of scientific publishing<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

To deal with this problem, most reputable journals let authors share their published articles in different ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n