On 12 September 2024, the law firms Lieff Cabraser and Justice Catalyst Law filed an antitrust lawsuit in New York against the major scientific publishers Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, Sage, Wiley and Wolters Kluwer. On behalf of the scientist Lucina Uddin and a group of researchers, they accuse the publishers of unlawfully taking billions of dollars that were intended to benefit research.
Central allegations against the publishers
The lawsuit focuses on three main points:
- unpaid peer review work: publishers expect scientists to perform peer reviews without remuneration.
- restriction of competition: publishers demand that researchers may only submit manuscripts to one journal at a time. This reduces competition and delays the publication of research results.
- limited dissemination of research results: During the often lengthy peer review process, publishers prevent researchers from freely sharing their manuscripts, and therefore their findings, in advance as preprints. Once a work has been accepted, the researchers must assign all rights to the publishers, who then charge high fees for access.
According to the plaintiffs, these business practices violate US antitrust law, in particular the Sherman Antitrust Act. They are claiming damages and demanding an end to these anti-competitive agreements.
Long-standing criticism of publishing practices and effects on research
Criticism of publishers' business models has existed for a long time. Public funds often finance research, but publishers sell access to the results at high prices. This practice slows down scientific progress and exacerbates the crisis in the peer review system, as fewer and fewer researchers are willing to work for free.
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