Very often I find that much of what happens in scholarly publishing floats unnoticed over my head, as I sigh and chase yet another late payment from a company that couldn’t give two hoots about my cashflow.
But lately, there have been blogs and stories that have put my regular mini-battles into proper perspective; for example, Richard Charkin’s take on the threats past and present to the publishing industry, not just from generative AI and the undermining of copyright, but also within the publishing industry itself, which must respond, or adapt – or die (https://publishingperspectives.com/2025/04/richard-charkin-in-london-existential-threats-to-publishing/).
The threat is real: the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers’ recent amicus brief is challenging Meta’s use of copyrighted works to train its generative AI systems, which could undermine the rights of authors, publishers and the sustainability of scholarly communication (https://stm-assoc.org/stm-defends-copyright-in-ai-case/).
If that wasn’t bad enough, the real heart-sinker is reading about the Trump administration’s attack on the Library of Congress, in a piece by The Scholarly Kitchen’s Todd Carpenter. Trump’s systematic moves to dismantle the Library’s role in upholding copyright law and intellectual freedom are beyond any satire of his breathtaking ignorance and peevish paranoia (https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/05/15/a-tumultuous-week-at-the-library-of-congress/).
Feeling angry and depressed yet? No? That’s because you’ve been paid on time.