News: Academic Publishing Weekly

Thoughts on proposed NIH grant cuts, the Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact, and celebrating university press wins.

Posted on February 14, 2025 in News

Proposed NIH Cuts Raise Concerns for Research and Publishing

In response to the now reversed National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant cuts, Scholarly Kitchen chef Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe pondered how reducing indirect costs affects academic publishing. Of note, the proposed cuts planned to limit indirect cost rates to 15 percent for federally funded grants. Hinchliffe explained that indirect costs cover “expenses such as financial and legal support, office space and equipment, electricity and other utilities, building maintenance, and support for regulatory reporting and compliance.” Hinchliffe posited that research organizations may experience layoffs and could limit researchers’ NIH applications. As for publishers, Hinchliffe predicted disruptions to submission numbers and peer reviewers. Hinchliffe also underlined that subscriptions could be affected since “Library support for research is factored into an institution’s ICR.” By contrast, “APCs are eligible to be budgeted as direct costs.” Nature had coverage of Judge Angel Kelley’s decision to block the cuts following lawsuits from 22 states and a coalition of universities. A hearing is scheduled for February 21st.

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Publishing Groups Release Statement on AI Copyright, Microsoft Provides Monetary Incentives to Authors, and CSU Reveals Plans to Become “AI-Empowered”

During this week’s Artificial Intelligence Action Summit, 38 organizations issued a joint statement on AI copyright protections. The statement, named the International Charter on Culture and Innovation, “aims to establish respect for intellectual property rights, ensure authorization of use by rights holders, and the establishment of fair business models.” The organizations, including the Association of American Publishers, outlined requests including transparent training data and payment for authors. Next, The Decoder reports that Microsoft is offering an AI licensing agreement to HarperCollins that provides $5,000 for each title used to train its models. Under the agreement, Microsoft gains a “three-year training license” and authors would be paid $2,500 per book. Lastly, California State University (CSU) is partnering with tech companies to “leverage the power of artificial intelligence to create an AI-empowered higher education system.” The partnerships support an AI Workforce Acceleration Board, AI Commons Hub, and will provide ChatGPT Edu to students and faculty. CSU Chancellor Mildred García stressed that, “The comprehensive strategy will elevate our students’ educational experience across all fields of study, empower our faculty’s teaching and research, and help provide the highly educated workforce that will drive California’s future AI-driven economy.”

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Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact Winner, Molecular Connections Purchases Editorial Office Ltd, and Supporting DEIA

Following its acquisition of Morressier in January, Molecular Connections (MC) has purchased Editorial Office Ltd (EOL). The acquisition of EOL, a peer review and publishing services provider, “promises to deliver customer-centric, technology-enabled solutions that redefine efficiency, ensure faster turnaround times, and uphold the higher standards of research integrity for journal editors.” Next up, the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for Scholarly Publishing took home the first Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact. Turning to DEIA, members of the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications’ (C4DISC) Steering Group offered recommendations to support inclusion in the wake of DEIA program and policy pushback. Individual suggestions include challenging misinformation about DEIA and “focus[ing] on everything an individual can or does bring to their role; their lived, as well as their professional, experience.” Steering Group members also urged organizations to deter from “anticipatory compliance” and highlighted resources from C4DISC including several toolkits and working groups.

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Making a Case for University Presses and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries Moves Away from the Big Deal Model

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries is taking a step back from the Big Deal subscription model. Informed by its strategic framework, “A Nebraska Model for Public Research Libraries,” the Libraries announced that it will “no longer subscribe to Springer journals as part of a mass, bundled package.” Dean Liz Lorang noted, “This change creates an opportunity for the Libraries to redirect our finite spending to other areas of need and impact.” The Libraries will “maintain perpetual access” to formerly purchased materials, uphold subscriptions to select journal titles, and buy “Springer e-books up to three times per year.” Turning to university presses (UPs), publishing consultant Derek Krissoff claims that “we’re in a golden age for university-press publishing.” Touting specialized, well-recognized books and a tendency to be “tolerant of risk,” Krissoff underscored that more attention should be given to UP wins. As Krissoff explained, conversations around university presses should center not just on business models, but also new titles.

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OA Recommendations for Small Publishers and Wiley Announces Pilot Program in Latin America

UKRI, the Association of Learned Society Publishers (ALPSP), the British Academy, and the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), have announced a project designed to aid small publishers with OA adoption. In partnership with OA consultancy firm Information Power, the project includes a guide titled How to Begin the OA Transition, and a report for publishers and relevant stakeholders. In other news, Wiley unveiled an OA pilot program for researchers in Latin America. Through the program, researchers will receive APC discounts to publish in Wiley’s gold OA journals. Prices will be based on a country’s Purchasing Power Index (PPI) value. Wiley’s VP of Publishing Strategy & Policy Kathryn Sharples commented, “We are always striving to make publishing more accessible for scholars around the globe and we hope that this pilot will help us understand whether purchasing power parity helps advance a sustainable and fair approach.”

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