The Unfair Economics of Academic Publishing vs. Social Media Influence
The academic world runs on one of the strangest economic models in modern society. Researchers spend years developing ideas, running experiments, building prototypes, validating theories, and writing papers. They push human knowledge forward. Yet when it’s time to publish this work, the system turns upside down: 1. Researchers Pay to Publish Their Own Work Most open-access journals charge anywhere from hundreds to several thousands of dollars in “article processing fees.” These fees don’t go to the researchers, the grad students, the engineers, or the institutions that actually created the intellectual value. Instead, the majority of the revenue goes to: Publishing companies, Editorial platforms, Administrative overhead, And sometimes mandatory “open-access” labels that simply unlock a PDF. Meanwhile, the authors — the people who invented , tested , and proved something new — receive: No financial compensation , No share of the publication revenue , S...