Publishing with University Presses Webinar Series: How to Publish in Academic Journals

Strains in Scholarly Publishing

The traditional system of academic journal publishing faces mounting pressures that have intensified sharply in recent years. A key trigger came with the implementation of the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy on July 1, 2025, which requires all peer-reviewed articles from NIH-funded research accepted on or after that date to be deposited in PubMed Central and made immediately publicly available without any embargo period. This shift, stemming from the 2022 OSTP guidance mandating zero-embargo public access for federally funded research by the end of 2025, removes the previous 12-month delay and pushes authors toward paying article processing charges (APCs) for open access options in many journals.

Meanwhile, the sheer volume of research output has become unsustainable. Estimates place annual publications above 3 million, triple the level from two decades ago, with submissions growing even faster. This flood strains peer review to breaking point, raises integrity risks from low-quality or AI-assisted papers, and makes it harder for valuable work to stand out. Library budgets struggle to keep pace with subscription costs, while the incentives driving 'publish or perish' culture push quantity over quality.

Non-obvious tensions emerge between stakeholders. While open access aims to democratize knowledge and fulfill taxpayer rights to see funded results, it burdens researchers—especially at resource-poor institutions—with APCs that can reach thousands per article. Proposed NIH caps on such fees aim to curb the $19 billion for-profit publishing industry's dominance but could favor large commercial players with transformative agreements, potentially sidelining university presses and diamond open access models. Political attacks on higher education add further uncertainty, with funding cuts and scrutiny exacerbating the squeeze on scholars navigating tenure and promotion in this environment.