Janne Pölönen
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jpolonen.bsky.social
Janne Pölönen
@jpolonen.bsky.social
620 followers 560 following 35 posts
Secretary General for Publication Forum (JUFO) at Federation of Finnish Learned Societies | Helsinki Initiative on Multilingualism in Scholarly Communication | CoARA Steering Board - WG on Multilingualism and Language Biases
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Reposted by Janne Pölönen
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
jpolonen.bsky.social
📢 Register for the 5th Helsinki Initiative webinar (8 December) on Multilingualism in Scholarly Communication with presentations by @tatsuya-amano.bsky.social, @karenstroobants.bsky.social and Andre Brasil!

More information and registration: www.helsinki-initiative.org/en/events/5t...
November 3, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
janirecas.bsky.social
🌍 Have you experienced language barriers at academic conferences, or not at all?

We want to hear from everyone to better understand how language shapes participation and accessibility.

📝 Take our short survey and help make conferences more inclusive and multilingual:

forms.gle/u8ESktcJP8Y6...
Amplifying global voices: Removing language barriers in academic conferences
We invite you to share your experiences with language barriers at academic conferences. Your insights will help shape more inclusive and multilingual events across disciplines and formats. This surve...
forms.gle
September 13, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
cwts.nl
📣 Special seminar on 'Perspectives on the evaluation of science', with Emanuel Kulczycki, @alesiazuccala557.bsky.social, and Jochen Gläser.

🎧 Make sure to join!

📅 Friday, 31.10.2025
🕐 1:00-3:00 PM (CET)
📌 Online & at CWTS

More information 👉 www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...
Special Seminar: Perspectives on the evaluation of science
We are delighted to host a special seminar featuring the members of Eleonora Dagiene’s external PhD committee, held the day after her PhD defence. This session will bring together three distinguished ...
www.universiteitleiden.nl
October 22, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
doaj.bsky.social
🌍💎 Bringing together #OpenAccess policymakers & funders across Africa, Europe, and Latin America is key to supporting #DiamondOA
@almasiproject.bsky.social launches The Diamond OA Policy Forum on 29 October 2025, 15:00-16:30 UTC
Register here: almasiproject.org/the-diamond-...
Visual image to promote the ALMASI Diamond OA Policy Forum Wednesday 29 October
October 13, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
lovakov.bsky.social
"Across databases, delve (+1,500%), underscore (+1,000%), and intricate (+700%) had the largest increases between 2022 and 2024. Growth in LLM-term usage was much higher in STEM fields than in social sciences and arts and humanities" arxiv.org/abs/2509.09596
How much are LLMs changing the language of academic papers after ChatGPT? A multi-database and full text analysis
This study investigates how Large Language Models (LLMs) are influencing the language of academic papers by tracking 12 LLM-associated terms across six major scholarly databases (Scopus, Web of Scienc...
arxiv.org
September 18, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
eua.eu
Research assessment reform is essential to break the cycle of dependence on high-impact commercial journals and related metrics.
➡️ Reclaiming academic ownership of the #ScholarlyCommunication system buff.ly/0C0Wqfn

#OpenScience
A promotional image featuring the logo of the European University Association for the briefing: "Reclaiming academic ownership of the scholarly communication system: Challenges and opportunities for universities." The background is a blue overlay.
August 4, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
erudit.org
→ Plaidoyer pour le multilinguisme en sciences

📚 Article à lire : @bowkerl.bsky.social, Mikael Laakso & @jpolonen.bsky.social explorent les risques liés au monolinguisme anglophone sur l’écosystème scientifique.

📌 L'article : id.erudit.org/iderudit/111...
📌 Résumé de l'article : shorturl.at/nKGgo
July 23, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
opencitations.bsky.social
The July 2025 dump of OpenCitations Index is out! Now featuring 2.21 BILLION citations from 5 data sources.

👉 download.opencitations.net

Ever wondered how these sources overlap? This chart shows where citations are shared and where they're unique:
July 17, 2025 at 3:09 PM
jpolonen.bsky.social
74.4% of the 21,886 WoS-indexed journals involve commercial professional publishers, 29% societies, and 27.8% research organisations as sole/co-publishers. Our paper co-authored with @zehrataskin.bsky.social, Emanuel Kulczycki & @mikaellaakso.bsky.social - now on QSS website: doi.org/10.1162/qss....
Mapping the publisher types and collaborations behind Web of Science indexed journals
Abstract. Although the organisational aspects of scholarly journals—such as the types of organisations responsible for publishing individual journals, whether independently or in collaboration—have si...
doi.org
July 15, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
jpolonen.bsky.social
Significant differences between European countries in the higher education institution's engagement with #CoARA, #HRS4R @dorassessment.bsky.social. This and other findings in my presentation at the CoARA General Assembly 23 June on CoARA Uptake across European HEIs: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
June 25, 2025 at 5:59 AM
jpolonen.bsky.social
Happy to announce the soft launch of DoLS - the Directory of Learned Societies, an open, growing database of learned societies and their journals worldwide, facilitating visibility, networking, and community-building!

Explore #DoLS website: www.tsv.fi/en/services/...
June 30, 2025 at 6:58 AM
jpolonen.bsky.social
Significant differences between European countries in the higher education institution's engagement with #CoARA, #HRS4R @dorassessment.bsky.social. This and other findings in my presentation at the CoARA General Assembly 23 June on CoARA Uptake across European HEIs: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
June 25, 2025 at 5:59 AM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
markhusk.bsky.social
This interesting new preprint on SocArXiv shows that "The landscape of academic journals is beyond the oligopoly: it is diverse and often grounded in public, academic-driven initiatives rather than market imperatives." osf.io/preprints/so...
jpolonen.bsky.social Janne Pölönen @jpolonen.bsky.social · Jun 11
📢 Our new study challenges the prevailing narrative that a few commercial publishers dominate global scholarly publishing! Read the preprint: Beyond the oligopoly: Scholarly journal publishing landscapes in Latin America and Europe. doi.org/10.31235/osf...
OSF
doi.org
June 11, 2025 at 5:01 PM
jpolonen.bsky.social
📢 Our new study challenges the prevailing narrative that a few commercial publishers dominate global scholarly publishing! Read the preprint: Beyond the oligopoly: Scholarly journal publishing landscapes in Latin America and Europe. doi.org/10.31235/osf...
OSF
doi.org
June 11, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
ludowaltman.bsky.social
Glad to see this report about 'reclaiming academic ownership of scholarly communication system'.

I like presentation of diamond OA and publish-review-curate (PRC) as complementary approaches. Important to note that PRC is not only about reclaiming ownership but also about various other issues.
eua.eu European University Association (EUA) @eua.eu · Jun 5
📖 What are the main factors shaping the current academic publishing system?
🚧 What key challenges does the academic community face?
🔍 Are there opportunities for universities to reshape the future of #ScholarlyCommunication?
🔗 New EUA briefing buff.ly/0C0Wqfn

#AcademicSky #EduSky
Reclaiming academic ownership of the scholarly communication system
EUA - European University Association
buff.ly
June 7, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
eua.eu
📖 What are the main factors shaping the current academic publishing system?
🚧 What key challenges does the academic community face?
🔍 Are there opportunities for universities to reshape the future of #ScholarlyCommunication?
🔗 New EUA briefing buff.ly/0C0Wqfn

#AcademicSky #EduSky
Reclaiming academic ownership of the scholarly communication system
EUA - European University Association
buff.ly
June 5, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
eua.eu
💎 📖 #Diamas project releases #DiamondOA Recommendations and Guidelines
for Institutions, Funders, Sponsors, Donors, and Policymakers.
ℹ️ buff.ly/bwSeFJL

#OpenAccess #ScholarlyPublishing #OpenScience #SciencePolicy @eudch.bsky.social‬
DIAMAS releases Diamond Open Access Recommendations and Guidelines
EUA - European University Association
buff.ly
June 6, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
eua.eu
Universities and their communities play an essential role in protecting and promoting academic freedom. 🛡️ 🤲 They must commit to making academic freedom a lived and daily reality.

Read EUA's position paper buff.ly/35qwaif

#AcademicFreedom
How universities can protect and promote academic freedom
EUA - European University Association
buff.ly
June 4, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
danielskatz.org
It's great to see that a national research evaluation organization, the Finnish Publication Forum (JUFO), has rated @joss-openjournals.bsky.social as level 1, recognizing its scholarly value

Frankie Robertson helped make this happen, with Nordic-RSE, & wrote about it: nordic-rse.org/blog/joss-ju...
JOSS re-evaluated as JUFO 1 in Finland, expands its definition - Nordic RSE
We bring together the community of people writing and contributing to research software from Nordic universities, research institutes, companies and other organizations to share knowledge, to organize...
nordic-rse.org
May 28, 2025 at 10:46 PM
jpolonen.bsky.social
@polecopub.bsky.social presenting #Matilda as a new source for Open Citations at #WOOC2025 in Bologna
May 29, 2025 at 1:15 PM
jpolonen.bsky.social
📢 Webinaari 11.6. klo 10:00-11:30: Yliopistojen, AMKien ja tutkimuslaitosten näkemyksiä tutkimuksen yhteiskunnallisen vaikuttavuuden arvioinnista sekä Alankomaiden, Norjan, Puolan ja UK:n arviointijärjestelmien vertailu.

Ilmoittautuminen ja lisätietoa: www.julkaisufoorumi.fi/fi/tapahtuma...
May 28, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
ludowaltman.bsky.social
Papers mills and other manipulative practices are major problem in scientific publishing system. Addressing this problem requires in-depth system-level understanding of dynamics leading to these practices. At @cwts.nl we have PhD position to work on this!

www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/vacancies...
PhD Paper Mills and Systematic Manipulation in Research Publishing
PhD candidate Paper Mills and Systematic Manipulation in Research PublishingThe past decade has seen the rise of distinct new challenges for research integrity in the context of scientific publishing....
www.universiteitleiden.nl
April 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM
jpolonen.bsky.social
Our paper "Learned societies in the academic landscape: challenges in identifying and categorizing organizations" was published today in Scientometrics: doi.org/10.1007/s111... Thank you Emanuel Kulczycki, @mikaellaakso.bsky.social and @zehrataskin.bsky.social for the great collaboration!
Learned societies in the academic landscape: challenges in identifying and categorizing organizations - Scientometrics
This study explores ways of identifying learned societies within the Research Organization Registry (ROR), a type of organization that so far lacks its own category within the registry. Despite their ...
doi.org
April 9, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by Janne Pölönen
samuelmoore.org
Math journal editors resign to launch open-access title ‘free from pressure or influence’

retractionwatch.com/2025/04/07/m...
Math journal editors resign to launch open-access title ‘free from pressure or influence’
The managing editors and entire editorial board of Mathematical Logic Quarterly, a Wiley title, have resigned, citing “unilateral decisions” by the publisher “that affected the editorial process.”&…
retractionwatch.com
April 8, 2025 at 2:04 PM