scholarly journals A Marxist Account of and Suggested Alternative to Capitalist Academic Publishing

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilhelm Peekhaus
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Economic Perspective ◽  
Primitive Accumulation ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
Academic Publications ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Capitalist Control

This paper examines and situates theoretically from a Marxist political economic perspective the capitalist model of academic publishing using Marx’s concepts of ‘primitive accumulation’ and ‘alienation.’ Primitive accumulation, understood as a continuing historical process necessary for capital accumulation, offers a theoretical framework to make sense of contemporary erosions of the knowledge commons that result from various enclosing strategies employed by capitalist academic journal publishers. As a theoretical complement, the article further suggests that some of the elements of alienation Marx articulated in respect of capitalist-controlled production processes capture the estrangement experienced by the actual producers of academic publications. After offering a short assessment of the open-access movement as a remedial response to the enclosing and alienating effects inherent in the capitalist-controlled academic publishing industry, the article briefly outlines a suggested alternative model for academic publishing that, building on open-access projects, could radically subvert capitalist control.

scholarly journals The Enclosure and Alienation of Academic Publishing: Lessons for the Professoriate

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 577-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilhelm Peekhaus
Keyword(s):  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Primitive Accumulation ◽  
Capitalist Production ◽  
Journal Publishing ◽  
Privileged Position ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
Knowledge Commons ◽  
Capitalist Control

This paper interrogates and situates theoretically from a Marxist perspective various aspects and tensions that inhere in the contemporary academic publishing environment. The focus of the article is on journal publishing. The paper examines both the expanding capitalist control of the academic publishing industry and some of the efforts being made by those seeking to resist and subvert the capitalist model of academic publishing. The paper employs the concepts of primitive accumulation and alienation as a theoretical register for apprehending contemporary erosions of the knowledge commons through the enclosure effects that follow in the wake of capitalist control of academic publishing. Part of my purpose with this discussion will be to advance the case that despite a relatively privileged position vis-à-vis other workers, academic cognitive labourers are caught up within and subject to the constraining and exploitative practices of capitalist production processes.

scholarly journals The Open Access Interviews: Sir Timothy Gowers and Clifford Lynch

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Poynder
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Institutional Repository ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Print Version ◽  
The Past ◽  
Discrete Analysis ◽  
Scholarly Publisher ◽  
First Interview

This is a print version of two interviews I posted on my blog in 2016 as part of a series entitled The Open Access Interviews. The first interview is with Cambridge mathematician Sir Timothy Gowers. In 2012 Gowers called for a boycott of the scholarly publisher Elsevier, and in 2106 he started an overlay journal called Discrete Analysis to demonstrate that a high-quality mathematics journal could be inexpensively produced outside of the traditional academic publishing industry. The second interview is with Clifford Lynch, the director of the Washington-based Coalition for Networked Information (CNI). This interview covers the past, present and possible futures of the Institutional Repository (IR). Both interviews are preceded with a lengthy introduction. I have also included in this booklet my response to some of the comments the interview with Clifford Lynch sparked.

scholarly journals Message from the Grassroots

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Camille Nous
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Scholarly Journal ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Journal Publishing ◽  
Use Of Knowledge

Librarians have responded to the decades-long “serials crisis” with a common narrative and a range of responses that have failed to challenge the ideology and structures that caused it. Using Walter Rodney’s theory of a guerilla intellectual, we critically examine the dominant understanding of this so-called crisis and emphasize the role that capital plays within it. The imperial nature of scholarly journal publishing and some of its many contradictions are discussed. “Transformative” agreements receive special attention as a hyper-capitalist manifestation of these contradictions at the heart of commercial publishing.The politics of refusal are one response to the commercialism, prestige, and power imbalances that drive the academic publishing system. Highlighting the differences between refusal and reform, this paper explores the protagonistic role that librarians can play in a protracted struggle within and beyond the confines of our profession. Select open access efforts are identified at the end as examples of different forms of refusal. This paper is intended to move beyond the traditional discourse of laying blame solely at the feet of the academic publishing oligopoly and also expounds on the bourgeois academy’s use of knowledge production for capital accumulation.

scholarly journals Can We Interest You?

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Strong-Wilson ◽  
Mindy Carter ◽  
Jérôme St-Amand ◽  
Sylvie Wald
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Open Access Journal ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
Publishing World ◽  
The World

Since it was founded in 1966, the McGill Journal of Education has been a bilingual peerreviewed, generalist academic journal open to a broad range of topics and concerns related to education. It supports the open access to information movement that is transforming the academic publishing world and the digital technology making it possible for knowledge produced by publicly funded scholars to be widely and easily available. This article reflects on its most significant changes and challenges as a bilingual generalist, open access journal with close ties to McGill, Québec, Canada, and, increasingly, the world writ large.Keywords Education; Generalist journal; McGill; Open accessRésuméDepuis sa fondation en 1966, la Revue des sciences de l’éducation de McGill est un journal académique généraliste, bilingue, évalué par les pairs et ouvert à un large éventail de sujets et de préoccupations relatifs à l’éducation. Il appuie à la fois le mouvement de libre accès à l’information qui est en train de transformer le monde de l’édition académique et les technologies numériques qui assurent une vaste diffusion etun accès facile au savoir généré par des chercheurs financés par l’État. Cet article se penche sur les changements et les défis les plus significatifs auxquels la revue a fait face en tant que publication en libre accès bilingue, généraliste et étroitement liée à l’Université McGill, au Québec, au Canada et, de plus en plus, au monde entier.

scholarly journals What Do Publishers Know?

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 515-520
Author(s):  
Casey Brienza
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Short Contribution ◽  
Important Thing ◽  
The One ◽  
Better Than

In this short contribution to the open access debate, I will draw upon my expertise as a sociologist who has studied the publishing industry to argue that publishers do in fact have knowledge that is absolutely critical to an informed understanding of open access and how it may be successfully implemented. After providing an overview of who publishers are and what motivates them, along with some of often little-understood complexities of the academic publishing industry, I focus upon the one important thing that publishers understand very well—and far better than most academics—how publishing is funded. I then discuss why collaboration, not competition, between publishers and academics is the only real way forward and conclude with a warning to fellow academics that casually dismissing their potential contribution is both counterproductive and, in the worst case scenario, may threaten the future flourishing of our profession.

scholarly journals A Primavera Acadêmica e o custo do conhecimento │Academic spring and the cost of knowledge

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moreno Albuquerque de Barros
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Scientific Journals ◽  
Publishing Process ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
The Cost

Resumo A Primavera Acadêmica se refere aos recentes movimentos entre acadêmicos e cientistas em favor do acesso livre e contra as políticas das editoras comerciais acadêmicas. O artigo apresenta um panorama dos custos envolvidos na editoração comercial de periódicos científicos, bem como as justificativas de editores e acadêmicos que sustentam ou rejeitam o processo de publicação com fins lucrativos da literatura acadêmica. Defende a formulação de alternativas de comunicação científica e consolidação do movimento de acesso aberto, alheio às interferências de grandes conglomerados comerciais.Palavras-chave Primavera acadêmica; Periódicos acadêmicos; Elsevier; Acesso livre; Comunicação científicaAbstract The Academic Spring refers to the recent movements among scholars and scientists in favor of open access and against the policies of the academic publishing industry. This article presents an overview of the costs involved in the publishing of commercial journals as well as the justifications by publishers and academics who support or reject the for-profit publishing process of academic literature. Advocates the formulation of alternative scholarly communication and the consolidation of the open access movement, oblivious to the interference of business interests. Keywords: Academic Spring; Scientific journals; Elsevier; Open access; Scholarly communication

scholarly journals Open access journals in educational technology: Results of a survey of experienced users

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross A. Perkins ◽  
Patrick R. Lowenthal
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Educational Technology ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Open Access Journals

As the academic publishing industry evolves, there has been an unprecedented growth of open access journals (OAJs). In educational technology alone, with an estimated 270 associated journals, nearly one-third are designated as open. Though OAJs are lauded for what their availability can contribute to social justice issues (reduction of subscription requirement barriers), some remain suspicious of the content found in them and question the legitimacy of publishing in them. In this study, we sought to discover the opinions of educational technology scholars about OAJs in their own field. We were able to learn which OAJs were deemed to be most valuable, as well as the characteristics of OAJs thought to be particularly important.

scholarly journals Education’s many “opens”

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eamon Costello ◽  
Henk Huijser ◽  
Stephen Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Technological Changes ◽  
Constant Flux ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Access To Knowledge

The concept of openness is multifaceted and can be addressed from a wide range of different angles. Here we focus on openness in education, with a particular focus on knowledge production and access. We thus also focus on the academic publishing industry, which is in constant flux and has seen considerable changes in recent years, partly due to rapid technological changes. Ultimately, the discussion is narrowed down to focus on AJET’s approach to openness as an example of open access publishing. The question is raised of how can we grow open access publishing in a higher education sector characterised by increasing budget constraints in order to make access to knowledge as open as possible to as many potential readers as possible.

scholarly journals What Do Publishers Know?

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 515-520
Author(s):  
Casey Brienza
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Short Contribution ◽  
Important Thing ◽  
The One ◽  
Better Than

In this short contribution to the open access debate, I will draw upon my expertise as a sociologist who has studied the publishing industry to argue that publishers do in fact have knowledge that is absolutely critical to an informed understanding of open access and how it may be successfully implemented. After providing an overview of who publishers are and what motivates them, along with some of often little-understood complexities of the academic publishing industry, I focus upon the one important thing that publishers understand very well—and far better than most academics—how publishing is funded. I then discuss why collaboration, not competition, between publishers and academics is the only real way forward and conclude with a warning to fellow academics that casually dismissing their potential contribution is both counterproductive and, in the worst case scenario, may threaten the future flourishing of our profession.

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