The Crisis in Academic Publishing and Research
During my 16 years of higher academic training, I discovered that academic institutions are in financial trouble. Perhaps this is why tuition rates for colleges and universities are climbing at an alarming rate. It costs over $200,000 to send a child to a private college. Medical school costs can easily exceed that amount.
Many of my PhD and MD-PhD colleagues are not pursuing academics and research. Why? There is a process in academia where one must write grants and beg for money from the National Institutes of Health. Less than 10% of these individuals applying for grants will receive funding. Even after receiving funding, a grant renewal occurs about every five years. If the funding is later rejected, the professor may lose his or her lab. I’ve seen this happen again and again. What happened to the ‘promise land’ and ‘payout’?
For the MD-PhDs with medical backgrounds, they can bail and go into private practice. However, I’ve met with individuals in congress during the last two years, and I’ve learned that Medicare is broke. Physicians are destined to receive a 5.5% pay CUT every year for the next five years. The starting salaries for physicians are already dropping to the $60,000-$80,000/year range. How many of you would be willing to work in a field where you must take a 5.5% pay cut yearly when inflation is climbing at about 4% yearly?
The fleecing of academia does not stop here. I learned that one of my professors receives less than 5% royalties for his book. The publisher sells his $100 book and gives the author $5. Researchers give their research papers away to publishers and journals for FREE, only to have their research inaccessible by the public who paid for the research in the first place. How lucrative is the medical publishing industry? One of the largest medical publishers is a $10 billion entity with over $900 million dollars in profits yearly. It is sickening for me to realize how corporations have taken advantage of academics who have dedicated their lives to teaching the World’s youth.
My vision and corporate mission is to level this playing field. My company has a strategy to become the publisher, distributor, retailer, and advocate for academic authors. While this is a daunting task, the mission is good. I describe it as “freeing the slaves.” I want to siphon profits from academic publishing back into research and funding academic endeavors.
Related Links
Overcoming the Crisis in Academic Publishing by Andrew Cooper (Associate Editor, The Book & The Computer)
A letter to Modern Language Association (MLA) members by Stephen Greenblatt, President
Many of my PhD and MD-PhD colleagues are not pursuing academics and research. Why? There is a process in academia where one must write grants and beg for money from the National Institutes of Health. Less than 10% of these individuals applying for grants will receive funding. Even after receiving funding, a grant renewal occurs about every five years. If the funding is later rejected, the professor may lose his or her lab. I’ve seen this happen again and again. What happened to the ‘promise land’ and ‘payout’?
For the MD-PhDs with medical backgrounds, they can bail and go into private practice. However, I’ve met with individuals in congress during the last two years, and I’ve learned that Medicare is broke. Physicians are destined to receive a 5.5% pay CUT every year for the next five years. The starting salaries for physicians are already dropping to the $60,000-$80,000/year range. How many of you would be willing to work in a field where you must take a 5.5% pay cut yearly when inflation is climbing at about 4% yearly?
The fleecing of academia does not stop here. I learned that one of my professors receives less than 5% royalties for his book. The publisher sells his $100 book and gives the author $5. Researchers give their research papers away to publishers and journals for FREE, only to have their research inaccessible by the public who paid for the research in the first place. How lucrative is the medical publishing industry? One of the largest medical publishers is a $10 billion entity with over $900 million dollars in profits yearly. It is sickening for me to realize how corporations have taken advantage of academics who have dedicated their lives to teaching the World’s youth.
My vision and corporate mission is to level this playing field. My company has a strategy to become the publisher, distributor, retailer, and advocate for academic authors. While this is a daunting task, the mission is good. I describe it as “freeing the slaves.” I want to siphon profits from academic publishing back into research and funding academic endeavors.
Related Links
Overcoming the Crisis in Academic Publishing by Andrew Cooper (Associate Editor, The Book & The Computer)
A letter to Modern Language Association (MLA) members by Stephen Greenblatt, President
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Please read comments about open-access publishing and Medrounds Publications at Barbara Payne's www.biomednews.org
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