Martín López-García
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mlopezgarcia.bsky.social
Martín López-García
@mlopezgarcia.bsky.social
99 followers 300 following 5 posts
Professor of Mathematical Biology at the University of Leeds. Doing research in Mathematical Immunology and Epidemiology. All views my own.
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Reposted by Martín López-García
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 Martín López-García
marceldirsus.com
AI could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2 percentage points
November 7, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
garushyants.bsky.social
hey bluesky 👋 visa hurdles mean I’m looking for opportunities outside the US. I’m a computational biologist (bacterial + phage genomics, postdoc in Koonin’s group @ NIH). I am interested in teaming up on funding apps. reach out if this resonates!
September 15, 2025 at 5:26 PM
mlopezgarcia.bsky.social
Very happy to say that I've been promoted to Professor of Mathematical Biology at Leeds 🥳 Huge thanks to all the fantastic colleagues that I have worked with over the years.
September 5, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
cathnoakes.bsky.social
Great opportunity for UK based early career researchers in fluid dynamics. Apply for funding for a short research visit to a collaborator. Deadline 4th Oct with a quick turnaround. Details at fluids.leeds.ac.uk/funding/
Funding | Leeds Institute for Fluid Dynamics
fluids.leeds.ac.uk
September 5, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Reposted by Martín López-García
cathnoakes.bsky.social
Great to see the outputs from the @samhe.bsky.social study reported. Outdoor air is the biggest driver of particles in the classroom. Closing windows doesnt always help but air filters can www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Closing classroom windows does not cut air pollution, study finds
Tests conducted at 500 sites show particle pollution exceeded health guidelines on 6% of school days
www.theguardian.com
July 25, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Reposted by Martín López-García
parkermolloy.com
Musk really turned his AI into a Hitlerbot. Wild.
July 8, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
tah-sci.com
Come and work with us! Postdoctoral research job to look at methods for working with early pandemic "First Few X" datasets in resource-limited contexts. Please consider applying if of interest and circulate around your networks.

www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Research Associate in Mathematical Epidemiology :Manchester
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk
May 6, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
iddjobs.org
Postdoc (Manchester, UK)
Working on methods for “First Few X” studies in resource-limited contexts.
with Thomas House @tah-sci.com, Lorenzo Pellis, Christopher Overton
at Univ. of Manchester
More details: http://iddjobs.org/jobs/2310
May 6, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
mmls-journal.bsky.social
🚨 Publication Alert 🚨 Enhancing a university community COVID-19 model with Bayesian model-data fusion www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... by Meghan Childs and Tony Wong
Enhancing a university community COVID-19 model with Bayesian model-data fusion
During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities experienced unique challenges, and current research has used mathematical models that leveraged model parameters calibrated to local contexts, such as hos...
www.tandfonline.com
April 16, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Reposted by Martín López-García
jburnmurdoch.ft.com
NEW 🧵

The number of people travelling from Europe to the US in recent weeks has plummeted by as much as 35%, as travellers have cancelled plans in response to Trump’s policies and rhetoric, and horror stories from the border.

Story: www.ft.com/content/6dc1...
April 11, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
snuffbait.bsky.social
April 7, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Martín López-García
tah-sci.com
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Healthier Futures Research Fellow - mathematical epidemiology is specifically involved in this exciting two-year position. @iddjobs.org #sciencejobs Deadline 17 March 2025, please apply and forward to others who may be interested!
Healthier Futures Research Fellow :Manchester
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk
March 3, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
tah-sci.com
Current round open until 7 April 2025. The DKO Fellowships are prestigious awards of 5 years' funding for early career researchers looking to make the transition to independence. Please apply and / or circulate to anyone who might be interested!

www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellowships (2025):Manchester
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk
March 3, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
horizonsinstitute.bsky.social
Another insightful seminar from the Healthy Buildings Network yesterday afternoon, as journalist Pete Apps shares insights into the causes and compounding factors that made the Grenfell Tower fire so devastating.
Pete also shared insights on changes that need to be made to make buildings safer.
Journalist Pete Apps speaks to the audience at the Healthy Buildings Seminar
February 28, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Reposted by Martín López-García
beckettstephen.bsky.social
Do you work at the interface of disease dynamics and behaviour?

Consider submitting an article to a Special Issue in Behavioural Epidemiology at @mmls-journal.bsky.social.

Indicative paper submission is due 31st March 2025.

More details here: think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...
Mathematics in Medical and Life Special Issue: Sciences Behavioural Epidemiology
think.taylorandfrancis.com
February 24, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
angierasmussen.bsky.social
Hell of a way to discourage people at risk from getting an mpox vaccine
February 15, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by Martín López-García
mmasnick.bsky.social
Incredible.
Screenshot of the DOGE.gov site showing someone inserted "This is a joke of a .gov site" into a page saying "Meet the U.S. Government."
February 14, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Reposted by Martín López-García
mmls-journal.bsky.social
🚨 New publication 🚨
The next article in our special issue in Behavioural Epidemiology, by Matt Ryan, Emily Brindal and Roslyn Hickson doi.org/10.1080/2993... @edmhill.bsky.social
Behaviour and infection feedback loops inform early-stage behaviour emergence and the efficacy of interventions
This paper is part of a special issue on Behavioural Epidemiology.The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the health and economic impacts of infectious diseases. Many public health policies aim to reduce...
doi.org
January 30, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
paulmainwood.bsky.social
Oh JFC, try it. Go to www.nih.gov and type a random word in the search bar - see what happens.
Then try any of the words on Theo's list.

Very odd country, the United States.
theo.io Theo Sanderson @theo.io · Feb 4
lol, just learnt about the nih.gov site search preventing specific searches like "racism", "gender", "equity", etc.

it's all so bizarre, presumably regardless of where one stands ideologically
February 4, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
theo.io
lol, just learnt about the nih.gov site search preventing specific searches like "racism", "gender", "equity", etc.

it's all so bizarre, presumably regardless of where one stands ideologically
February 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Martín López-García
sheencr.bsky.social
NSF is still freezing grants and reviewing for potential clashes with trumps edicts: terms such as“broadening participation” language, foreign assistance, climate science, domestic energy” all flagged. This is insane, career wrecking and damaging for quality science 😡🧪
Exclusive: how NSF is scouring research grants for violations of Trump’s orders
The US National Science Foundation has unfrozen grant funding, but it continues to scrutinize research projects, sowing turmoil.
www.nature.com
February 4, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Reposted by Martín López-García
darbysaxbe.bsky.social
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
list of banned keywords
February 4, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Martín López-García
socialinfluenza.bsky.social
Our study on pasteurising influenza viruses in milk is now out! It's a nice simple story: influenza viruses (including H5N1) are killed really effectively by pasteurisation, but in raw milk they stay infectious - obvious public health implications of both points... (1/2)
rdcu.be/d73te
A picture of a Fresian cow whose markings resemble influenza viruses
January 30, 2025 at 5:12 PM