The Non-profit Publishing Pledge
I pledge to publish my first-author research exclusively in non-profit and learned society-owned journals, in support of responsible publishing practices
Get involved!
I’m a scientist, why should I care?
We all know the academic publishing model is broken. Publishers charge exorbitant fees, restrict access to research, and profit from the work of articles they get for free. The Non-profit Publishing Pledge is a commitment to publishing in only good quality journals owned by non-profit societies and organisations, ensuring money is reinvested into the academic community and wider society.
I’m not a scientist, why should I care?
The vast majority of academic research is publicly funded through government grants, and therefore taxpayer money. Many for-profit journals charge extremely high fees to publish research that they don’t pay for, all for the ‘privilege’ of public access to publicly funded research! All for what is essentially making a PDF available online.
This is a waste of public money, and the Non-profit Publishing Pledge is a commitment to only publish in journals that are owned by non-profit societies and organisations, reducing financial waste and ensuring that research is accessible to all.
But my career…
But my career depends on publishing in high-impact journals! The Non-profit Publishing Pledge is a commitment to publishing in non-profit, good quality journals, including high-impact ones like Science and PNAS. You can still build your career and CV while maintaining responsible publishing practices.
Tides are also turning in academia! Many institutions and funding bodies explicitly do not take into account the ‘prestige’ of a journal when evaluating research outputs. The more people who take the pledge, the more we can shift this culture and make it easier for everyone to publish responsibly.