What Zohran Mamdani can teach us about changing the publishing system
Originally published in Times Higher Education on March 5, 2026.
As is well known, scientific publishing is one of the most quietly extractive industries in modern life. A small number of companies control the infrastructure through which scientific knowledge is validated, disseminated and rewarded. Researchers produce the work, review it and edit it, mostly without pay, while universities and libraries buy that labour back at enormous cost. These firms’ profit margins rival those of major technology companies, even though the underlying research is overwhelmingly publicly funded.
Despite decades of critique and activism, this system remains remarkably stable. The movement to challenge it is large, morally persuasive and widely supported in principle yet it has struggled to translate outrage into systemic, durable change. In this sense, resistance to corporate publishing resembles many stalled reform efforts: plenty of correct arguments but little sustained coordination.