Scientific publishing is a rip-off. We fund the research – it should be free | George Monbiot

Those who take on the global industry that traps research behind paywalls are heroes, not thievesNever underestimate the power of one determined person. What Carole Cadwalladr has done to Facebook and big data, and Edward Snowden has done to the state security complex, Alexandra Elbakyan has done to the multibillion-dollar industry that traps knowledge behind paywalls. Sci-Hub, her pirate web scraper service, has done more than any government to tackle one of the biggest rip-offs of the modern era: the capture of publicly funded research that should belong to us all. Everyone should be free to learn; knowledge should be disseminated as widely as possible. No one would publicly disagree with these sentiments. Yet governments and universities have allowed the big academic publishers to deny these rights. Academic publishing might sound like an obscure and fusty affair, but it uses one of the most ruthless and profitable business models of any industry.The model was pioneered by the notorious conman Robert Maxwell. He realised that, because scientists need to be informed about all significant developments in their field, every journal that publishes academic papers can establish a monopoly and charge outrageous fees for the transmission of knowledge. He called his discovery “a perpetual financing machine”. He also realised that he could capture other people’s labour and resources for nothing. Governments funded the research published by his company, Pergamon, while... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2018-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #alexandra elbakyan #modern era #academic publishing #significant developments #technical term

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Scientific publishing is a rip-off. We fund the research – it should be free | George Monbiot'


Why publishers are hesitant to add their chatbots to OpenAI’s GPT Store

OpenAI's new chatbot store opened on Jan. 10, but digital publishing companies haven’t been all that eager to dive in head first just yet due to their own limited resources and the lack of clear audience and revenue growth opportunities. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2024-01-26 05:01:00 UTC ]
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New Sci-Fi/Fantasy Publisher Gungnir Hopes to Hit Its Target

Gungnir, a new sci-fi/fantasy publisher helmed by comics veterans Jim Krueger and Steve Orlando, will launch in April 2024. Named after the staff of the Norse god Odin, which always hit its target, Gungnir will publish a mix of graphic novels, prose novels, and art books in the sci-fi/fantasy... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #graphic novels #art books


UK: The Research and Scholarly Forum: London Book Fair, March 14

The 'Research and Scholarly Forum' at London Book Fair will look at AI, open access, and academic publishing policy. The post UK: The Research and Scholarly Forum: London Book Fair, March 14 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-01-22 19:37:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post uk #open access #academic publishing #london book fair


Answering Censorship in France: Publisher Thierry Magnier

'We have decided to attack the 1949 law to repeal this commission' on children's literature, says French publisher Thierry Magnier. The post Answering Censorship in France: Publisher Thierry Magnier appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-01-19 16:25:37 UTC ]
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L.A. Public Library to Publish Books

The Los Angeles Public Library has become one of the few public libraries in this country with its own press. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-01-17 17:54:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #public library #publish books #public libraries


Stephen Strang: Prophecy, Politics, and Publishing

The evangelical publisher atop Charisma Media sees a big audience for books and broadcasts that speak of God's 'everyday involvement in human life.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #big audience #human life


Layoffs Hit Arcadia Publishing

The Charleston, S.C.–based publisher, which specializes in nonfiction books of local interest and regional history, laid off an unspecified number of employees last week. A source, who asked to remain anonymous, told PW that the number was 16, across multiple departments. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #unspecified number #based publisher #nonfiction books #remain anonymous #told pw


Veristage Launches Insight, an AI Platform for Book Publishers

Insight offers publishers AI tools, including large language models such as ChatGPT and Claude, to analyze documents and generate metrics, editorial and marketing assets, sales material, and other content. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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England: A Fly on the Wall on the Publishers Association’s Climate Pledge

Independent press Fly on the Wall signs the UK Publishers Association's 'Publishing Declares' effort to address the climate crises. The post England: A Fly on the Wall on the Publishers Association’s Climate Pledge appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-01-16 20:39:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post england #publishers association #publishers association's


Recovering the ‘Aryan worldview’: the West Australian book publisher under scrutiny over far right texts

Imperium Press, whose blog fosters a worldview it calls ‘folkishness’, has become an intellectual resource for the far right, but its works are widely available through mainstream sourcesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastAt least one Australian-based online... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-14 14:00:30 UTC ]
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Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir to be posthumously published this autumn

Book co-written with the star’s daughter Riley Keough promises to reveal ‘the complexity of being a Presley’The posthumous memoir of Lisa Marie Presley written in collaboration with her daughter Riley Keough will be published later this year.The as yet untitled book about Lisa Marie’s life as... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-11 16:21:17 UTC ]
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North Carolina’s Firestorm Books Offers Free Books Banned in Florida

Firestorm Books in Asheville, N.C., has acquired 22,500 copies of 46 children's books that were banned from the Duval County Public School system in Florida, and will distribute them for free across the U.S. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Encyclopedia Britannica once published a catalogue of humanity’s ‘102 Great Ideas’ – and it created more questions than answers

Mid-century encyclopaedias claimed the power to decide what counted as knowledge and what didn’t – much as online publishing platforms and social media companies do today. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2024-01-09 17:02:30 UTC ]
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Publishing Industry Sales Rose 1.8% in October

Results were buoyed by strong sales in higher education course materials, which were up 17.9%, and at religious presses, which saw a 12.2% bump, in conjunction with a 1.5% increase in sales of adult books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Publish Nazi newsletters on your platform, Substack, and you will rightly be damned | John Naughton

The online publishing service has been criticised for the way it has allowed extremist propaganda to flourish on the siteIt’s funny how naive smart people can be sometimes. Take the founders of Substack, a US-based online platform that enables writers to send digital newsletters directly to... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-06 16:00:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ve found #earn money #issues raised #online publishing


What Booksellers Can Teach Us About Reading, Writing and Publishing

My longtime girlfriend is a longtime bookseller. Her relationship with bookselling predates ours three times over. It is a surprisingly taxing career path—one that asks of the body, and of the mind. There are the bad days, where she brings home the classic bookseller gripes: failed hand-sells,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-05 09:56:55 UTC ]
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Praveen Madan Named CEO and Publisher at Berrett-Koehler

Madan, a former chair of Berrett-Koehler's board of directors, comes to the publisher from Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, Calif., where he has been CEO since 2012, and where he cofounded the bookselling initiative Reimagining Bookstores. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers Weekly’s 2024 Book Business Events Calendar

Our new Google calendar, to be updated throughout the year and to which readers can subscribe, keeps track of the dates of select trade shows, book fairs, and awards and prizes in 2024. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple is reportedly looking to team up with news publishers to train its AI

Apple has been noticeably missing in the list of companies with their own generative AI product, but based on a new report by The New York Times, it's looking to change that real soon. In recent weeks, Apple has reportedly started negotiating with major publishers and news organizations to ask... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-12-23 07:43:48 UTC ]
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