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Scholarly journals have evolved rapidly over the past years. Due to the rise of open access publishing, an increasing number of research articles is now openly available to everyone. Databases such as Google Scholar list articles from most open access journals. However, almost every open access scholarly journal still lacks behind in one crucial aspect. The journals don’t financially compensate editors and reviewers for their work. We, therefore, started the publisher Advances.in. Each of our journals gives back to the community by paying reviewers and editors for their efforts. We believe that this is the future of academic publishing.
Reasons to publish in an open access scholarly journal
Traditionally, scholars had to publish in journals that locked their research behind a paywall. As a result, just a few people in the world who could afford to subscribe to the journals were able to access the research. Ironically, the authors themselves often could not access the scholarly journal in which they had published their work.
The emergence of many open access journals fundamentally changed the publishing game. Nowadays, researchers usually retain their work’s copyright when publishing in one of the many open access scholarly journals. What’s more, their work becomes accessible to everyone.
The next-gen scholarly journal pays editors and reviewers.
Although open access has made research far more inclusive, almost every open access scholarly journal still fails to compensate those who put in the most important work for them: the editors and reviewers. Taking advantage of exhausted academics’ free labor has proven a highly profitable business. Year after year, the big academic publishers announce record financial results and profit margins unheard of in other industries.
Editors and reviewers often spend hours of their free time reviewing and handling scholarly journal submissions to keep up with demand. From the beginning of their careers, they are told that their work is a contribution to the scientific community. However, they are never told that their free work actually finances a multi-billion industry. Given that many scholars hold underpaid positions and earn comparably little in light of their extended education and training, this publishing model is inherently unfair.
Changing academic publishing, one scholarly journal at the time
At Advances. in, we have introduced a new publishing model that compensates editors and reviewers for their work. Many people ask us what are some scholarly journals that we currently accept submissions to? One example is advances.in/psychology, but we plan to establish many more journals over time. If you have an idea for a journal, please pitch it to us.
With regard to the review process, the work flow looks like this: Before editors or reviewers accept a task, they seamlessly sign a consultation agreement with us within our article submission system. Once they finish a given paper’s review process, their work must pass a quality check. This check ensures that we consistently deliver high-quality evaluations and can select the best reviewers in the future. Once the work of the editors and reviewers is approved, they send us an invoice, which we pay within 14 days of receipt. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than this!
Currently, we are paying reviewers $100–150 and editors $200 per completed review process (please note that one review process can involve more than one evaluation of the same paper; you can find more information about the process in the Frequently Asked Questions). This earning can make a difference in a person’s life, especially when they live in a low-income country.
Publish with us and support a more sustainable publishing model.
Thus, by publishing with us, you do not only support a more equitable and sustainable publishing model while publishing your articles in high-quality journals. You also directly support your colleagues and academic community. Vice versa, when you review for us, your colleagues support you by publishing their papers with us. We believe that this model constitutes the future of academic publishing.
Easier Editing
Shorter time to find qualified reviewers.
Better Reviews
Higher motivation to conduct fast and high-quality reviews.
Fair Practice
Sustainable publishing that pays back to the community.
Everyone Wins
More satisfied authors, editors, reviewers and publishers.
