News: Academic Publishing Weekly

Publisher and library lawsuit updates, gender pay gaps in publishing, and a look at the theme for this year's Peer Review Week

Posted on June 13, 2025 in News

Updates to IMLS and Educational Publisher Lawsuits

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon has dropped part of Cengage Learning, McGraw Hill, Macmillan Learning, and Elsevier’s copyright lawsuit against Google. As reported by Reuters, Judge Rochon ruled that “the publishers’ vicarious copyright infringement claim failed because Google could not control the pirate sellers’ alleged misconduct.” The publishers’ “claim for contributory copyright infringement” and “trademark infringement claim” are yet to receive a ruling. Turning to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal judge failed to grant the American Library Association (ALA) a preliminary injunction in its case against the Trump administration. Despite initially issuing a temporary restraining order, Judge Richard J. Leon raised concerns over “the facts and the law” in ALA’s case and questioned whether it should be handled in the Court of Federal Claims. In a separate case on the IMLS, Rhode Island v. Trump, Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island “denied defendants’ request for a stay pending appeal on his May 13 preliminary injunction.”

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MIT Press Acquisition and University of Pittsburgh Press Distribution Changes

The MIT Press has purchased AIP Publishing’s University Science Books (USB), a textbook publisher. The acquisition will go into effect July 1st, “with inventory transferring to Penguin Random House Publishing Services, the MIT Press’s sales and distribution partner.” Amy Brand, Director and Publisher of the MIT Press commented, “USB’s respected science list will complement our long-established publishing history of publishing foundational texts in computer science, finance, and economics.” In other university press news, Liverpool Distribution Services (LDS) will be taking on distribution in the UK and Europe for the University of Pittsburgh Press (UPP) this November. LDS will also be UPP’s “non-exclusive [distribution] partner for the rest of the world outside of the Americas.”

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AI Tools, Initiatives, and Deals

The Web of Science Research Intelligence is heading to its first round of customers in August after being announced by Clarivate last year. Clarivate covered positive comments from its project partners and highlighted several of the tool’s benefits. Next, Cactus Communications (CACTUS) revealed the CACTUS 100 initiative. The initiative will provide 100 days of free access to “over 100 essential AI-powered publishing outputs” for “organizations with annual revenue under $5 million that publish fewer than five journals or ten books per year.” On the topic of AI, Bloomberg reports that academic publishers are increasingly entering AI partnerships amid research funding cuts in the US. Nonetheless, Bloomberg acknowledged that although licensing AI content can help revenue, concerns continue on copyright, author compensation, and not “becoming obsolete in a world of AI-generated content.” Lastly, The Scholarly Kitchen covered recent workshops and an ensuing report carried out by NISO on AI standards in publishing. The report—now open for community feedback—outlines several project recommendations related to AI licensing, metadata, accessibility, and attribution.

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OA’s Impact on Academic Societies and Pay Gaps Continue in Publishing

Despite the reported benefits of open access publishing, it appears that scholarly societies are losing revenue due to the shift to open. A survey from Research Consulting finds that “nearly half [of respondents] said they rely on publishing revenue for more than 50% of their total budget.” Science explained that while scholarly societies would like to embrace OA, profit from transformative agreements and other outsourced publishing arrangements has declined and is often dependent on article volume. Next, a study published by PLOS Global Public Health reveals that top science publishers continue to experience gender pay gaps. In particular, the study looked at the “five largest science publishers in the UK that publish journals,” in addition to The BMJ and science funder Wellcome. Men receive higher pay than women at all five publishers dating back to 2017. The study further showed that while some publishers like Springer Nature and Wiley lessened their gender pay gaps over the years, “Elsevier’s median pay gap for 2024 is 32.8%, maintaining its position as worst performer.”

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Looking Ahead to Peer Review Week

This year’s theme for Peer Review Week, scheduled for September 15 through 19, is “Rethinking Peer Review in the AI Era.” The topic was distilled down from ideas submitted by the Peer Review Week Steering Committee following a public vote garnering more than 894 global responses. As co-chairs Maryam Sayab, Roohi Ghosh, Gareth Dyke, and Maria Machado underscored, the theme “challenges us not just to adapt, but to lead, by shaping systems and standards that align technological advancement with the integrity of scholarship.” The co-chairs also addressed expected areas of discussion including ethics, AI literacy, transparency, and “Human vs. Machine Judgment.” Scholars are encouraged to participate through social media, focused panel discussions, and by facilitating AI training for their communities. [The Scholarly Kitchen]

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