I know publishing houses spend lots of money to prepare, publishing and hosting published manuscripts. But considering the fact that they don't pay authors for their manuscript, as well as they don't pay peer reviewers for review work, do they have the moral right to request fee from authors of manuscripts??
Jia - they have to make money somehow. I agree that it is 'strange' that academics work hard to create manuscripts and rarely receive financial gain. In most other industries, if you craft a product then you are judged on it and then paid accordingly. Academia remains resistant to that business model. However - is that a good thing or not is a question to ask? Does it allow us more freedom?
Of course, the difference between that is morally wrong, ethically wrong and legally wrong, in academic publishing, remains a commonly debated (and mostly unanswered) debate.
Personally, I think that all industries adapt and try to 'second guess' the next best academic model. However, as with all 'supply and demand', we know that there are many unscrupulous operators i.e. predator journals that are looking for quick gain and then leave the market. Now that is immoral.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Publishing