Asimov Press founder: academic journal innovation is strangled by indexers like Clarivate
NikoMcCarty · x · 2026-11-16
Niko McCarty spent three months trying to start a scientific journal inside Asimov Press and mapped out why journal innovation is so hard.
- Editors want to experiment with interactive, PDF-free formats, but journals need indexing by Clarivate/Web of Science to be taken seriously and attract submissions, and Clarivate requires full-text PDFs and controls the Journal Impact Factor.
- eLife's aggressive peer-review experiment cost it its impact factor, and submissions fell 55% between 2024 and 2025; it survived only thanks to deep institutional funding.
- Most journals depend on publishing fees or subscriptions, so stepping out of line risks bankruptcy. Universities also weigh impact factors in promotions.
His takeaway: don't blame journals—the real problem sits above them with publishers and indexers, and academic publishing is full of perverse incentives.
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