News: Academic Publishing Weekly

Anthropic case reaches settlement, Cundill History Prize finalists announced, and the Readerlink and Baker & Taylor deal falls through

Posted on October 3, 2025 in News

Anthropic’s $1.5 Billion Class Action Payout Largest in History and A New Framework for AI Transparency

In what is reportedly the largest copyright payout in history, Anthropic’s $1.5 billion offer to settle a class action lawsuit was granted a preliminary approval by a federal judge. The AI company behind Claude allegedly downloaded hundreds of thousands of books from pirate databases for training purposes. The award comes after weeks of review of Anthropic’s offer, which, according to reports, amounts to about $3,000 per book plus interest. Publishing Perspectives notes that reactions are largely positive, despite the fact that the suit doesn’t quite fix the issue of LLM training on copyrighted material. Association of American Publishers president and CEO Maria Pallante called it a “major step in the right direction.” Separately, The Scholarly Kitchen features a post in which Frances Pinter, Director, Academic Relations, Central European University Press, interviews Professor Yana Suchikova, Vice-Rector for Research at Berdyansk State Pedagogical University, on the shift from AI detection to AI disclosure (or lack thereof) in the research workflow. Suchikova notes the stigmas behind disclosing AI use in research and proposes a “taxonomy of delegated tasks” called GAIDeT, which offers a framework for detailing AI’s role in the research process which could help ease the trepidation researchers face when documenting their AI use.

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Trump Administration Attacks Research (Part 30 Million)

As we’re all well aware, the Trump administration has taken quite a few shots at academic research since January. Kathryn Palmer of Inside Higher Ed dives into those attacks—particularly from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Jayanta Bhattacharya of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Gathering interviews and soundbites from researchers, faculty, and journal editors, Palmer explores how many of the complaints regarding academic publishing are in fact, valid, whether they be poor incentives, funding (and influence) from pharmaceutical companies, or burgeoning research fraud. However, Palmer finds that the current administration is using these “long-standing criticisms of academic publishing” to push their own agenda, often to the detriment of robust and factual scientific research. In other news, HHS targeted Harvard University this week, “referr[ing] Harvard University for suspension and debarment proceedings.” This move will most likely result in losses in government grant money, thereby impacting Harvard’s research funding. Finally, Palmer of Inside Higher Ed highlights a Science paper that looks at how current proposed NIH budget cuts would have affected drug approvals in the past few decades. The study finds that “more than half of the drugs approved in the 21st century are linked to research that would have been at risk of never getting funded if the NIH had been operating with a 40 percent smaller budget.”

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A Toolkit for Digital Transformation, BPU Launches Fund for Global South Researchers, Readerlink and Baker & Taylor Deal Falls Apart

Jisc announced it is launching the Digital Transformation Library Lens, a toolkit that helps libraries articulate the value of their digital operations and services, such as digital collections, scholarly communications, and student support. (AI literacy, support, and implementation, anyone?) “Jisc’s library lens for digital transformation is an excellent tool to support and guide service leaders to play an essential role in digital transformation projects, helping them lend their expertise to business partner[s] across the organisation on mission-critical projects,” says Louis Coiffait-Gunn, CEO of CILIP, in a statement. Next, Bristol University Press launched a new fund that supports Global South scholars and early career researchers in an effort to “democratise access to academic publishing and empower marginalised voices across the globe.” Called the Global Social Challenges Development Fund, it will support English-language editing services, multilingual publishing, mentorship programs, and open access publication. It also focuses on increasing research aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Meanwhile, Readerlink’s plan to acquire Baker & Taylor has fallen through. The deal was supposed to close last week, but according to Readerlink president and CEO Dennis Abboud, Baker & Taylor’s “outstanding account balances,” or debt, was a major red flag. “We have been advised that in the coming weeks the current owners or their advisors will provide guidance regarding the process for submitting claims related to pre-closing open invoices,” Abboud said in a statement.

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Book Bans? It’s Worse Than You Think

Ahead of next week’s Banned Books Week, PEN America has released a new report outlining the current state of book censorship in the US. Obviously, it’s not a great outlook. The Normalization of Book Banning zooms out to demonstrate the rise of censorship since 2021, revealing “the normalization and routinization of censorship as an expected part of public education in many parts of the country.” At a glance, the 2024-25 school year experienced 6,870 cases of book bans, compared to 2,532 in 2021-22. In addition, the report discloses the top books banned, book bans by state, the impact on authors, and how the current administration has contributed to this environment.

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Publishing Platform Updates, JSTOR Seeklight’s Transcript Generation, and Introducing OpenAthens Connect

First up, Wiley takes aim at “common friction points in academic publishing” with updates to its Research Exchange publishing platform. Key features include “AI-powered transfer suggestions” for rejected manuscripts, peer reviews that travel with manuscripts between journals, and “streamlined article resubmission.” Second, OpenAthens expanded its access management tools with OpenAthens Connect, a “simple, core-based, and affordable single sign-on solution” for accessing digital resources. The service boasts simplified authentication, language support, and easy setup, intended to act as a “basic needs” solution for libraries. Last, JSTOR Seeklight will now include transcript generation, encompassing “full-text transcription of handwritten, typed, and mixed-media documents.” Available to Tier 3 charter participants in JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services, the transcript generation intends to aid discoverability and accessibility of full-text materials.

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Award Season Continues: New Shortlists and Finalists Announced

The shortlist for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction, which recognizes excellence in, you guessed it, nonfiction from authors of any nationality published in English in the UK, was recently announced. The list features six titles selected from 350 published between November 2024 and October 2025. The winner will be revealed on November 4 and will receive a £50,000 prize. Shortlisters receive £5,000 each. Additionally, the Cundill History Prize, which is awarded to works of history written in or translated into English, has named its finalists. Three authors were selected and one of them will receive the $75,000 prize—administered by McGill University and one of the largest in the world, according to the award organizers. The runners up will each win $10,000. The winner will be announced at the Cundill Festival in Montreal on October 30.

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