How academic publishers use researcher data to create predictive analytics products
In short: An essay exploring the concept of 'surveillance publishing' describes how major scholarly publishers, such as Elsevier, may derive significant revenue from prediction products. By analyzing the history of companies like Elsevier and the roots of bibliometrics, the authors suggest these publishers harvest data from researcher behavior to sell analytics to universities and other institutions.
The authors argue that profits from traditional publishing and article processing charges may have funded a decade-long expansion into the analytics market. This shift aims to streamline top-down institutional evaluation practices.
As a theoretical essay, this work develops a conceptual framework using existing literature rather than presenting new empirical data. It focuses specifically on the history of certain corporate entities and the evolution of citation analysis.
Why it matters: The shift toward data-driven publishing could change how research is evaluated and how scholars approach their work.
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Sources
- Source: Research: Pooley and Pooley (2021). Surveillance Publishing. Journal of Electronic Publishing. · cc-by-nc
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