Publishers face antitrust lawsuit with potential implications for peer review, duplicate submission, and dissemination practices.

ABSTRACT: Scientific, technical, and medical (STM) publishers follow 3 basic tenets: (1) no compensation for peer reviewers; (2) manuscript submission only to one journal; and (3) no dissemination of manuscripts while under review. An antitrust lawsuit was filed in federal district court against STM publishers challenging these tenets. The lawsuit will have important implications for how STM research is published and will also affect authors and editors. Academic researchers (plaintiffs) who have served as authors and reviewers allege that the 6 largest STM publishers (defendants) have conspired to require authors to abide by the 3 basic tenets. The plaintiffs argue that the publishers have substantial market power, pursue anticompetitive policies, and violate Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

SUBMITTER: Curfman G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11823101 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature