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Science Weekly

Is it the beginning of the end for scientific publishing?

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.21K Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

More than 40 leading scientists have resigned en masse from the editorial board of a top science journal in protest at what they describe as the ‘greed’ of the publisher. Ian Sample speaks to correspondent Hannah Devlin about the remarkably lucrative business of scientific publishing, hears from Prof Chris Chambers about what was behind the recent mass resignation, and finds out why researchers are demanding change. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0

This summer see the European box office smash that critics are raving about.

0:05.0

The count of Monte Cristo is timeless and thrillingly new.

0:09.0

Five-star says total film.

0:11.0

Rotten tomatoes rates it at 100%. It's a big exciting swashbuckling adventure, stunning a genuine triumph based on Alexander Dumas's classic tale.

0:21.0

A few counts of my mind. Classic Tale. A A Sve Le Comte of Monte Cristo.

0:24.0

The Count of Monte Cristo, in Cinemas Now, Certificate 12A.

0:29.0

This is the Guardian.

0:34.0

A few weeks ago.

0:37.0

A few weeks ago, the entire board of the academic journal Neuroimage owned by publishing

0:45.6

Giant Elsvere resigned from their posts. Now this might sound like a niche story, but the walkout gets to an issue that's been bubbling away in the scientific community for decades.

0:59.0

The big business of scientific publishing.

1:04.0

It's a staggeringly profitable industry.

1:07.5

Billions are made each year producing journals and sharing academic articles around the world.

1:13.0

It's a system that dictates scientists' careers,

1:16.1

the way science is done, and what impact that science has.

1:20.9

The industry has also been called perverse, bizarre, exploitative and that it should be seen as a public scandal.

1:30.0

Openness, it's kind of why science exists how science has worked for a long time

1:35.1

under various constraints the most latest being profiteering. And many

1:39.5

researchers have had enough. We need to make active steps toward dismantling this publishing

1:46.6

culture that surrounds science and feeds off it like some kind of organism. So, what is going on in scientific publishing?

1:57.0

And is this the beginning of the end for one of the most lucrative businesses out there?

2:04.0

I'm the Guardian Science Editor Ian Sample,

...

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