The recent move to open access, in which researchers pay a fee to publish an article in a journal, has also encouraged some publishers to boost revenues by publishing as many papers as possible. At the same time, there has been a rise in retractions, especially of fabricated or manipulated manuscripts sold by “paper mills”. Last year, for example, more than 10 000 journal articles were retracted – a record high – with about 8,000 alone from journals owned by Hindawi, a London-based subsidiary of the publicly-owned publisher Wiley.
The new “purpose-led” coalition is designed to show how the three learned-society publishers have a business model that is not like that of profit-focussed corporations. In particular, they plough all the money generated from publishing back into science by supporting initiatives such as educational training, mentorship, awards and grants. “Purpose-led publishing is about our dedication to science, and to the scientific community,” says Antonia Seymour, IOP Publishing’s chief executive. “We’re proudly declaring that science is our only shareholder.”
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