News: Academic Publishing Weekly

MLA leader steps down, AI in publishing processes, and Sage and Springer Nature share publisher reports

Posted on March 20, 2026 in News

People and Associations in the News

The Modern Language Association (MLA) announced that Executive Director Paula M. Krebs will be stepping down in 2027. Krebs has been with the organization for ten years. The MLA’s Executive Council, an 18-member group with fiduciary and administrative responsibility, will launch a search for a new Executive Director “in the coming weeks,” per the announcement. Under Krebs’s leadership, the organization launched new products (e.g., the MLA Handbook Plus) and guides, expanded its award offerings, and advocated for the humanities throughout recent political challenges to research and higher education. To hear more from Paula Krebs, listen to Choice’s interview series with her on The Authority File podcast.

The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) announced it signed the International Statement on the Freedom of Expression, and the Freedoms to Publish and Read. The International Publishers Association; PEN International; the European and International Booksellers Federation; the International Authors Forum; and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions are the founding signatories of the statement. As you might expect, the statement addresses the increasing political and social pressures against the freedoms of reading, authoring, and publishing written works. “The risk of self-censorship due to social, political or economic pressures remains high, affecting every part of the chain from writer to reader. Society must create the environment for authors, publishers, booksellers and librarians to fulfil their missions freely,” says the statement.

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Enhancing Data and Research Integrity

DOAJ, a global index of open access journals, and Crossref, an open infrastructure linking “research objects” in support of open science, have renewed a five-year partnership that aims to improve the quality of scholarly metadata with a special focus on support for journals in low- and middle-income countries. The partnership will continue to address article metadata enhancements and a collaborative ambassador program that supports and educates regional publishers and policy makers on the benefits of OA publishing.

Elsevier announced it has expanded its Check Integrity tool across almost 2,000 of its journals. Now out of a successful pilot phase, the tool will help flag potential ethical issues with journal articles prior to publication, including unauthorized authorship changes and conflicts of interest. “Check Integrity represents a meaningful leap in safeguarding the integrity of the research we publish,” said Laura Hassink, MD of STM Journals, in a statement. “By handling the screening and initial communications, Check Integrity frees editors to focus on evaluating high-quality, authentic research, making the publication process faster and more reliable for authors and readers alike.”

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AI in Publishing Processes—It’s Happening

This week Dr. Michael A. Bruno, Professor of Radiology and Medicine at the Penn State College of Medicine, takes on the question of incorporating AI into peer review for Scholarly Kitchen. Dr. Bruno first outlines the current state of and historical context for the peer review “crisis,” arguing that peer review feedback “has been steadily declining” due to a lack of incentives and academic burnout. Turning to the “promise of AI” for peer review, Dr. Bruno explores the potential opportunities and risks of using AI tools, concluding that “traditional” approaches to peer review aren’t cutting it anymore. Speaking of the publishing process, Springer Nature revealed that it has integrated more AI tools into its publishing procedures, “with more than 1.5 million research papers supported by AI-assisted processes in 2025.” Aimed at authors, editors, and, ah hem, reviewers, the more than 50 tools aid in research integrity checks, editorial tasks, and more. The publisher predicts use to increase “by a further 25% in 2026 as it continues embedding AI throughout editorial and peer-review workflows.”

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Publisher Reports: Sage and Springer Nature Reveal All

First up, Sage published its latest Independence with Impact Report, which covers its contributions to education and research. The report looks particularly at research impact, DEI and freedom of expression, and employee demographics, as well as artificial intelligence (surprised?) by highlighting a recent white paper “offering practical recommendations for deploying AI in ways that enhance human development and critical thinking.” Up next, Springer Nature shared its FY25 results, with an underlying growth increase of 6.2 percent from €1,847.1 million in FY24 to €1,926.4 million in FY25. Overall, adjusted operating profit grew by more than 9 percent to €543.6 million. The publisher attributed the success to its expansion of full open access, in addition to an “investment in technology and deployment of AI.”

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UK Releases Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence

Following UK publishers’ call for AI transparency earlier this month, the UK government released its report on AI and copyright. Much to the relief of UK authors and publishers, the Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence appears to do away with the government’s previously intended pursuit of copyright exceptions for AI training. “The significant positives in today’s announcement, in addition to the abandonment of the preferred exception, include the focus on transparency – on which we will continue to advocate strongly for legislative action – and on labelling to achieve clarity for readers in an increasingly polluted online retail space,” said Publishers Association CEO Dan Conway in a statement. However, Andrew Richard Albanese of Publishing Perspectives explains that the publishing industry remains vigilant, as the report “comes to no conclusions on what path the government should ultimately pursue.”

Independent Press Top 5 Bestsellers: Nonfiction
The American Booksellers Association and the Independent Publishers Caucus recently collaborated on an independent bestsellers list, which includes books from independent presses and sold in indie bookshops. Below are the top five nonfiction titles this week. Find this week’s full list of fiction and nonfiction independent bestsellers.

1. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon (Liveright)
2. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions)
3. The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change by Rebecca Solnit (Haymarket Books)
4. The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary by Terry Tempest Williams (Grove Press)
5. Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade (Verso)

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