When Editors Revolt: Characterizing Journal Declarations of Independence
For the bibliometric and scholarly publishing community, this provides empirical evidence of growing dissatisfaction with commercial publishing and the viability of community-led alternatives.
The study analyzed 39 breakaway-zombie journal pairs formed since 1989, finding that declarations of independence were motivated by governance and business model concerns, predominantly at Big Five publishers, with breakaway editors founding new journals at smaller publishers using diamond models.
When editorial boards resign from their journals and publishers and declare their independence, two competing journals can result: the original journal under a new editorial board (a "zombie" journal), and a new journal established by the departing editors (a "breakaway"). The bibliometric community saw such an event when the board of Journal of Informetrics left Elsevier to found Quantitative Science Studies. We analyzed 39 breakaway-zombie journal pairs that have formed since 1989 and their declarations of independence to understand why and how they happen. Results show that declarations of independence were motivated by concerns related to governance and business model and overwhelmingly happened at journals owned by the Big Five publishers. Breakaway editors tended to found new journals at smaller publishers and adopt diamond publishing models. These findings suggest that dissatisfaction with commercial publishing models is growing, and that community-led alternatives can motivate change.