Howard Browman
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hbrowman.bsky.social
Howard Browman
@hbrowman.bsky.social
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Marine/fisheries ecologist, Institue of Marine Research, Norway + Editor-in-Chief, ICES Journal of Marine Science + Council Member & Trustee, Committee on Publication Ethics - https://fishlarvae.org/people/scientists/howard-i-browman/
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Reposted by Howard Browman
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
🚨Advice release - eel
ICES advice to @ec.europa.eu, North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission #NEAFC, Norway, & UK on fishing opportunities and conservation for eel in 2026 has been released today doi.org/10.17895/ice...

All the latest ICES advice is available online www.ices.dk/advice/Pages...
November 4, 2025 at 2:30 PM
hbrowman.bsky.social
Join the 2000 readers of our editorial that will be of interest to anyone involved in academics, knowledge production and its dissemination, or scholarly publishing @easeeditors.bsky.social @deltathink.bsky.social @scholarlypub.bsky.social @doaj.bsky.social - academic.oup.com/icesjms/arti...
November 5, 2025 at 9:24 AM
hbrowman.bsky.social
Call for papers- @ICESmarine – Celebrating a century of marine science - @NOAAFisheries @AmFisheriesSoc @TheFSBI @challengersoc @marinescotland @CefasGovUK @fishoceanscan @ifremer_fr @Havforskningen @UNOceanDecade @faofish @EMarineBoard –
academic.oup.com/icesjms/page...
November 5, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
How do small-scale & Indigenous fisheries manage complex fish populations without the data used in commercial fishing?
The latest Editor's Choice shows what’s possible when genomic science & Traditional Ecological Knowledge work together.
📄https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsaf187
📷Raphaël Bouchard
Rows of fish drying on wooden poles under a blue sky and sunshine.
November 3, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Howard Browman
eiui.bsky.social
“Ocean-related research is undergoing a transformation…to address complex, multifactorial, & uncertain societal challenges,” which in turn pose challenges for early career researchers. Buchholzer et al. discuss 3 key challenges & offer practical advice @icesmarine.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/ices...
Title, authors’ names, abstract, and keywords from a paper about challenges faced by early career professionals in ocean-related research
October 31, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
📢Do you know an early-career scientist whose work should take centre stage?
Nominate them to be our early-career scientist keynote speaker at ICES ASC 2026.
Deadline for nominations: 2 November ⏰
ℹ️https://www.ices.dk/news-and-events/news-archive/news/Pages/ECSasc26Keynote.aspx

#SIIECS
October 29, 2025 at 9:00 AM
hbrowman.bsky.social
Join the >1600 readers of our editorial that will be of interest to anyone involved in academics, knowledge production and its dissemination, or scholarly publishing @easeeditors.bsky.social @deltathink.bsky.social @scholarlypub.bsky.social @doaj.bsky.social - academic.oup.com/icesjms/arti...
October 26, 2025 at 8:28 AM
hbrowman.bsky.social
New article in the “luminaries” series – @ICESmarine @OUPAcademic #SIIECS – academic.oup.com/icesjms/arti...
October 26, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Reposted by Howard Browman
publicationethics.bsky.social
COPE has released updated #Retraction guidelines, and new #ExpressionsOfConcern guidelines.

Elizabeth Moylan and Howard Browman explain what’s new and why it matters: https://publicationethics.org/news-opinion/new-and-updated-guidelines-post-publication-review

#PostPublicationCorrection
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
hbrowman.bsky.social
Join the >1000 readers of our editorial that will be of interest to anyone involved in academics, knowledge production and its dissemination, or scholarly publishing @easeeditors.bsky.social @deltathink.bsky.social @scholarlypub.bsky.social @doaj.bsky.social - academic.oup.com/icesjms/arti...
October 20, 2025 at 7:57 AM
hbrowman.bsky.social
This one should interest anyone involved in academics, knowledge production and its dissemination, or scholarly publishing @icesmarine.bsky.social - academic.oup.com/icesjms/arti...
October 14, 2025 at 10:53 AM
hbrowman.bsky.social
@peerreviewweek.bsky.social #PRW2025 - facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/...
September 28, 2025 at 7:53 AM
hbrowman.bsky.social
www.aslo.org/2025-applica...
September 21, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Reposted by Howard Browman
nathaliesteins.bsky.social
Congratulations @hbrowman.bsky.social - winner of the @icesmarine.bsky.social Outstanding Achievement Award! #ICESASC25
September 15, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
Congratulations to Juliane Niewar, Institute of Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science, Universität Hamburg @uni-hamburg.de for being awarded Best poster for her work on Understanding the effects of climate change and fishing on the Western Baltic Sea via dynamic food-web modeling.
Great work!
September 18, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
Congratulations to Sissel Kolls Bertelsen @dtu.dk Denmark, awarded Best Presentation at #ICESASC25 for her work Out with the Inputs and in with the Outputs that evaluated which technical measures could become redundant under Fully Documented Fisheries without compromising sustainability. Well done!
September 18, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
Congratulations to Abril Reynes Cardona, Ghent University, Belgium, awarded Best presentation at #ICESASC25 for her work on Offshore wind farm development alters food web structure and carbon flows; insights from 14-year data-driven study. Great work- well done!
September 18, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
Congratulations to Anika Sonjudóttir, Marine and Freshwater Research Institute Iceland @mfri.bsky.social for being awarded Best poster at #ICESASC25 for her work on exploring the impact of capelin decline in Icelandic waters through the marine food web. Great work!
September 18, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
💙A huge thanks to our friends at Klaipeda University!
From the smooth logistics to the warm welcome, your organizing team made #ICESASC25 not just possible but unforgettable.
We’re grateful for the hard work, energy & hospitality you brought to every detail.
Klaipeda you’ve been amazing 🌊🐟🎶
September 18, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
Day 3 of #ICESASC25 is up and running!

First up this morning is a network session on peer-review. Come along to discuss challenges, solutions and strategies for becoming an effective reviewer!
September 17, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Reposted by Howard Browman
socialseas.bsky.social
Can you spot Reviewer 2?

Peer review training is rare, so we had a great networking session aimed at improving our peer review skills at this morning’s #ICESASC25.
September 17, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
🤔 How does mentorship strengthen science & publishing?

This year’s mentees of ICES Journal of Marine Science Editorial Mentorship Programme talk about their experiences & what the mentorship means to them 🤝✨

👇 Here's what they had to say
📖 Read the full story: shorturl.at/15KsZ

#supportingECS
August 29, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Howard Browman
icesmarine.bsky.social
If you would like to get your hands on these halibut hats, make sure to join our Marine-Themed Craft Pop-Up at the #ICESASC25 poster session on Tuesday 16 September

Bring crafts like knitwear, jewelry, art, or toys - to swap or sell.🧶All proceeds go to a local charity.
nathaliesteins.bsky.social Nathalie Steins @nathaliesteins.bsky.social · Sep 4
11 days to go to until #ICESASC25. So there is still time to knit, crochet, paint, .... goodies for our marine-themed #craft pop-up shop. Ocean-inspired clothes and toys also welcome. Swap or buy. All proceeds go to a #Klaipeda charity.

I knitted these lovely halibut hats.
@icesmarine.bsky.social
September 4, 2025 at 8:24 AM
hbrowman.bsky.social
@icesmarine.bsky.social - Join us in celebrating by submitting an article to the 100th anniversary issue! Call for papers: academic.oup.com/icesjms/page... - Cartoon by Bas Kohler
September 2, 2025 at 7:32 AM