News: Academic Publishing Weekly

Discussing Open Access Week's theme, survey on AI use by publishing professionals, and tracking federal funding cuts to academic research

Posted on October 24, 2025 in News

Happy Open Access Week!

To celebrate International Open Access Week, the Chefs at Scholarly Kitchen contemplate this year’s theme of “Who Owns Our Knowledge?” and how “communities can reassert control over the knowledge they produce.” Some chefs wrestle with what “control” of scholarly research even looks like—and who’s doing the controlling—while others ponder whether “knowledge” and “publishing” are one and the same. Altogether, they find this year’s theme (intentionally or not) difficult to parse, reflecting today’s complex scholarly communication environment. Next, Elsevier announced that its 2024 Geographical Pricing for Open Access (GPOA) pilot will continue, adding 150 gold OA journals. This move will allow 300 journals to “offer pricing based on geography to help authors in low- and middle-income countries publish their research open access.”

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Open Research Practices Gain Steam

According to a new study by Taylor & Francis and DataSeer, scholars are adopting open research practices whether or not there are policy mandates in place. Looking at over 8,000 papers published in 2023, the “Moving the needle on open data” study reveals that more than 50 percent of authors included a Data Availability Statement (DAS)—an explanation of “whether and how readers can access data”—in their article despite not all journals requiring one. The investigation also looks at the authors’ rate of disclosing preprints, adopting ORCID iDs, and sharing code and software related to the research. Rebecca Taylor-Grant, Director of Open Science Strategy & Innovation at Taylor & Francis, shared, “We were very encouraged by the results of this analysis and the current uptake of open research practices has exceeded our expectations in every area.”

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Survey on AI Use in Publishing and the Need for AI Skepticism

Are those in the publishing industry actually using AI tools? The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) conducted a survey of more than 500 publishing industry professionals on AI use. Data reveals that a little under half of respondents use AI tools, particularly in areas including administrative or operational tasks, data analysis, and metadata and title optimization. Pain points abound, however, especially regarding ethical concerns. Publishing Perspectives shares plenty of interesting tidbits from the results—for example, “31 percent of respondents said they are ethically opposed to the use of AI”—and noted that more in-depth analysis of the study is forthcoming. In addition, Ithaka S+R offers updates on the second session of its Teaching and Learning with AI cohort program. One of the main takeaways is the need for healthy AI skepticism when teaching students about large language model usage.

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Does AI Translation Address Challenges for EAL Authors?

Claudia Taubenheim, Research Integrity Consultant at PA Editorial, considers the current landscape for non-native English speakers writing in English for scholarly publishers. In a piece for Scholarly Kitchen, Taubenheim outlines the barriers for English as an additional language (EAL) researchers, and how new AI translation tools are meant to ease those burdens. While Taubenheim notes some benefits, including “allowing EAL authors to focus more on ideas and less on language form,” she also points out serious disadvantages like AI detection tools wrongly identifying machine-generated writing or adding to issues of bias toward Western-style English. Further, Taubenheim underscores that AI translation is not a perfect solution. Instead, the publishing world needs to grasp and address the barriers faced by EAL authors.

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Tracking Federal Funding Cuts and OUP Celebrates Early Career Researchers

First, Oxford University Press (OUP) shared the winners of its First Book Prize 2025, which celebrates early career researchers. Focused on the humanities and social sciences (HSS), the prize offers open access publication of the winners’ debut books, in addition to hardback publication. The winning books include topics on migration, climate change pessimism, young Syrian refugees, and more. Next, Ithaka S+R unveiled the University Research Workforce Tracker on Airtable. In response to the current administration’s funding cuts to academic research, the tracker aims “to understand the magnitude of the cuts made by the NSF, NIH, and NEH” by “gather[ing] public information about layoffs, hiring freezes, and related personnel actions that affect individuals involved in academic research.” Higher education and academic research stakeholders are welcome to submit entries.

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