News: Academic Publishing Weekly

Positive DEI news, a university press relaunch, and new book model from JSTOR

Posted on August 22, 2025 in News

NIH Updates and a Rare Win for DEI

In a celebratory move for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) advocates, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher has ruled against the U.S. Education Department’s guidance targeting universities’ DEI programs. Specifically, Judge Gallagher determined that the government aimed to “substantially alter the legal obligations of schools and educators” and according to The Chronicle, “acted unlawfully.” Despite the news, Beth Gellman-Beer, a former regional director for the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, underscored that universities may not reinstate their DEI programs due to uncertainty around funding. Next up, National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Jay Bhattacharya has called for “an individualized review of all current and planned research activities.” Among said “research activities” are grants, contracts, and training initiatives. Inside Higher Ed underlined that the review falls under another memo articulating “select agency priorities” that research projects should adhere to. In additional NIH news, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the NIH “does not need to continue paying out approximately $783 million in research grants to projects that the NIH has since stopped funding.” The Supreme Court’s overturn “at least temporarily” reverses a lower court order that reinstated NIH grant funding.

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The Rebirth of University of Texas at El Paso Press

The University of Texas at El Paso’s university press is back in business. Following a nearly 20-year hiatus, UTEP Press plans to publish a mixture of republications and new titles, with eight books slated for the upcoming academic year. The Press will also publish the Texas Western Press imprint and utilize “modern print-on-demand and ebook technology from book distribution partners Amazon and Barnes and Noble.” UTEP Press announced that it will award the Texas Western Fellowship Award and the UTEP Discovery Fellowship Award to two books, amounting to $10,000 per title. Speaking on the Texas Western Fellowship Award, UTEP Press Managing Editor Jenn Crawford shared that, “We are looking for a new, fresh book that captures the Southwest/borderlands experience, similar to the legacy titles from the original Texas Western Press and its Southwestern Studies series.” [The University of Texas at El Paso]

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A Critical Look at the Sustainability of S2O

Scholarly Kitchen chef Rick Anderson has taken a stance against Subscribe to Open (S2O) and similar open access models. The crux of Anderson’s argument is that institutional funds for open access exist due to the “necessity of paying [for access] to content.” As Anderson explains, if S2O or Diamond OA models are adopted, the fund originally reserved for purchasing content “becomes a fungible resource for which any number of other university needs and priorities will compete.” Anderson adds that institutions can opt-in to S2O and are increasingly facing budget pressures, making support harder to come by. As a result, Anderson recommends libraries be proactive when considering S2O and to have a “conversation [with their institution] up front, before making any commitment to a publisher.” The conversation continues in the (very active) comment section. [The Scholarly Kitchen]

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JSTOR Announces Publisher Collections and T&F Adds Multimedia Content

JSTOR announced Publisher Collections, a book model created with input from publishers and libraries. Part of the Books at JSTOR program, Publisher Collections plans to “enable libraries around the world to acquire significant lists of new books from a growing set of 20+ publishers on the JSTOR platform.” Features will include perpetual licensing for “current year title sets” and a “tiered approach to publisher-set fees.” The majority of the over 175 libraries surveyed during development believe the model attends to “today’s library challenges of flat budget, platform sprawl, and need for perpetual access.” Next, Taylor & Francis unveiled two changes to Taylor & Francis Online. Journals now include a “Video & Audio” page and a “Latest Multimedia Content” area containing “the two most recently published articles in that title with video or audio.” This follows T&F’s recent finding that “extenders,” or multimedia to display research, positively affects journal article viewership.

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New Releases and the 2025 GW Ethics in Publishing Conference

The scholarly community can now register for this year’s GW Ethics in Publishing Conference. The conference will be held in-person on October 9th and virtually on the 9th and 10th. Talks center on themes including “artificial intelligence (AI), multilingual publishing; workplace equity; open access (OA); DEI initiatives; accessibility; peer review; publishing strategies and more.” The event is hosted by George Washington University’s Graduate Program in Publishing and the GW Journal of Ethics in Publishing, with support from GW’s College of Professional Studies. Last, Literary Hub shared 20 new releases. Highlights include biographies of James Baldwin and Octavia Butler and two titles from university presses.

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