Almost the entire editorial board of the Journal of Human Evolution (JHE), a publication of the Elsevier publishing house, has resigned. According to a statement, Elsevier's ongoing actions are fundamentally incompatible with the ethos of the journal: they prevent it from maintaining the quality and integrity that are crucial to JHE's success.
Criticism of Elsevier: infrastructure cuts, job cuts, incorrect use of AI
The editorial team accuses Elsevier of dismantling essential infrastructure and undermining central principles. For example, the editorial and special edition editorial teams have been cut. The editorial team criticises that it was instructed to pay no further attention to language, grammar, readability and formatting. The publisher also introduced production errors, for example through the use of AI, which incorrectly revised accepted manuscripts. Furthermore, Elsevier had changed the structure of the editorial team by requiring all members to sign new contracts every year. This led to a decline in the number of associate editors. The model with two editors-in-chief that had existed since 1986 was also ended. Elsevier did offer to continue it, but only if the remuneration was halved.
Publication fees too high
Another point of criticism is the high publication fees (Article Processing Charges - APC) of 3,990 US dollars, which exclude many authors. According to members of the editorial board who have resigned, this contradicts the principles of inclusion and equality. Elsevier has not yet issued a statement. The resignation is the 20th of its kind since 2023; previous resignations include The Journal of Political Philosophy at Wiley Publishing and Critical Public Health at Tyler & Francis. The development highlights the growing tensions between publishers and the academic community.
Further information
- You can read the full statement of the resigning members of the Editorial Board of JHE in this online PDF document: https://retractionwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Social-Media-Statement-re-JHE-Resignations.pdf
- The internet portal retractionwatch.com first reported on the resignation: https://retractionwatch.com/2024/12/27/evolution-journal-editors-resign-en-masse-to-protest-elsevier-changes/
- On the TIB AV-Portal you can see a video interview with Dr Johan Rooryck, Editor-in-Chief of Glossa: a journal of general linguistics. Among other things, Dr Rooryck explains how tensions with Elsevier and the resignation of the editorial board of the journal Lingua came about: https://av.tib.eu/media/59193