Taylor & Francis acquires open-access publisher PeerJ

The academic publisher Taylor & Francis has acquired PeerJ, a family of seven open-access journals publishing research across life and environmental sciences, computer science and chemical science.

Founded in 2012, PeerJ is known for its unusual pricing model: authors can pay either a standard article processing charge (APC) or a one-off lifetime membership fee that allows them to publish up to five articles a year at no further cost.

Taylor & Francis announced the acquisition in a press release on 8 March, stating that it would “enable PeerJ to expand its offering to researchers, including participation in Taylor & Francis’ popular manuscript transfer service, and will give scope to extend into new disciplines”.

Leon Heward-Mills, the publisher’s managing director of researcher services, said in a statement: “Taylor & Francis has a strong track record of investing in well-respected open research publishers, such as F1000 and Dove Press, and supporting them to develop and innovate at greater scale.”

Campus resource: The double-edged sword of open access publishing

PeerJ co-founder and publisher Peter Binfield described the acquisition as “an important step in PeerJ’s evolution”, adding: “This move will allow us to cement our original commitments to open research, equitable and inclusive publishing and rigorous peer review.”

His co-founder, Jason Hoyt, PeerJ’s chief executive, commented: “Our mission to make scientific research accessible to all whilst delivering 21st-century technology aligns perfectly with Taylor & Francis’ vision. With their backing and global network, we can bring our ethos and approach to even more researchers and readers worldwide.”

Earlier this year, a paper published in Scientometrics indicated that large commercial publishers such as Taylor & Francis, Elsevier, Springer Nature and Wiley had significantly benefited from the push towards open-access publishing through initiatives such as the European Commission’s Plan S project.

Authors Fei Shu, of the Chinese Academy of Science and Education Evaluation at Hangzhou Dianzi University, and Vincent Larivière, from Université de Montréal, described a new “oligopoly of open access publishing”, noting that while the number of open-access journals had risen significantly between 2008 and 2020, a “shift in market concentration” towards larger publishers had also occurred.

“While we do not question the good intentions behind OA mandates such as Plan S, those may have inadvertently given significant leverage to large commercial publishers,” the authors wrote.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com