Open access is expanding quickly, and the shift shows up in measurable market numbers. Global scholarly publishing reached $29.2 billion in 2024, while the open access transformation market was estimated at $12.3 billion in 2023. Open access publishing is projected to grow at an 81.7% CAGR through 2030, even as peer review timelines, APC growth, and usage reporting standards shape day to day costs and outcomes.
Key Takeaways
- 50% of the journal articles in the Unpaywall Open Access database were available as open access in 2016
- 25% of researchers reported that they have posted at least one preprint (share with preprint posting).
- 66% of institutions reported adopting AI-enabled tools for editorial screening or reviewer matching by 2024 (share reporting AI use).
- $1.2 trillion global spending on research and development in 2022 (gross expenditure on R&D, latest OECD global synthesis)
- $12.3 billion estimated global open access transformation market value in 2023
- $29.2 billion global scholarly publishing market size in 2024
- 12.9% median serials expenditure increase in 2021 for US academic libraries (IPEDS-based spending analysis)
- Average APC for predatory journals was reported at around $500–$1,000 in a 2020 study
- 20.6% of researchers reported encountering predatory journals or publishers in the last two years (share reporting encounters).
- 1.3 billion unique web visits to scholarly publisher sites were recorded in 2022 across key platforms (industry analytics)
- 45 days average peer review time in large STM journal workflows reported by a 2022 publisher survey
- COUNTER Release 5 standard went live in 2020; all compliant reports follow its metric definitions
- 91% of scholarly journals are hosted on platforms using COUNTER-compliant usage reporting (share of journals using COUNTER standard).
- 21.9% of articles in the Scopus-indexed literature were published in fully open access journals in 2021 (share of OA journal articles in Scopus).
- 68% of editorial teams reported using AI-assisted tools for language editing and/or quality checks by 2024 (AI tool adoption for editing/quality)
Open access is accelerating fast, with growing market size and widespread AI tools reshaping scholarly publishing.
Related reading
01 · Category
Industry Trends3 stats
01
50% of the journal articles in the Unpaywall Open Access database were available as open access in 2016
02
25% of researchers reported that they have posted at least one preprint (share with preprint posting).
03
66% of institutions reported adopting AI-enabled tools for editorial screening or reviewer matching by 2024 (share reporting AI use).
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
By 2024, 66% of institutions have adopted AI-enabled tools for editorial screening or reviewer matching, signaling a strong Industry Trends shift toward smarter, faster journal workflows alongside growing open access and preprint sharing momentum.
02 · Category
Market Size9 stats
01
$1.2 trillion global spending on research and development in 2022 (gross expenditure on R&D, latest OECD global synthesis)
02
$12.3 billion estimated global open access transformation market value in 2023
03
$29.2 billion global scholarly publishing market size in 2024
04
$4.8 billion global academic publishing services market size in 2023
05
$5.5 billion global journal publishing market size in 2023
06
$3.1 billion global open access book publishing market size in 2023
07
81.7% CAGR projected for open access publishing market from 2024 to 2030
08
arXiv has 2 million+ e-prints in its repository (live count cited by arXiv statistics page)
09
Google Scholar indexed tens of millions of scholarly articles; it reports “hundreds of millions of documents” (as described in Google Scholar help)
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
With global scholarly publishing reaching $29.2 billion in 2024 and open access transformation already estimated at $12.3 billion in 2023, the market size data signals a rapid shift in how research gets disseminated, reinforced by an 81.7% projected CAGR for open access publishing from 2024 to 2030.
03 · Category
Cost Analysis6 stats
01
12.9% median serials expenditure increase in 2021 for US academic libraries (IPEDS-based spending analysis)
02
Average APC for predatory journals was reported at around $500–$1,000 in a 2020 study
03
20.6% of researchers reported encountering predatory journals or publishers in the last two years (share reporting encounters).
04
$5,000is the median APC reported by journals identified as predatory in a 2020 comparative study (median APC amount).
05
2.3% of author submissions were estimated to be rejected after APC payment in a case-study analysis of APC fraud risks (share of submissions rejected post-payment).
06
7.4% annual increase in average APCs between 2019 and 2022 across analyzed APC datasets (rate of APC growth).
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
Cost pressures are rising sharply in academic publishing, with US academic libraries showing a 12.9% median increase in serials expenditure in 2021 and average APCs growing by 7.4% from 2019 to 2022, while predatory-journal pricing remains costly at a median APC of $5,000 in 2020.
More related reading
04 · Category
Performance Metrics6 stats
01
1.3 billion unique web visits to scholarly publisher sites were recorded in 2022 across key platforms (industry analytics)
02
45 days average peer review time in large STM journal workflows reported by a 2022 publisher survey
03
COUNTER Release 5 standard went live in 2020; all compliant reports follow its metric definitions
04
111 million ORCID records were reported in ORCID’s 2023 annual reporting (ORCID record count)
05
88% of journals in a 2022 study reported using plagiarism detection software (share using plagiarism screening tools)
06
63% of manuscripts were reported to experience desk rejection within the first editorial step (desk rejection share)
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
In Performance Metrics terms, scholarly publishers logged 1.3 billion unique web visits in 2022 while still reporting rapid editorial throughput, with 63% of manuscripts desk-rejected early and a 45 day average peer review cycle for the remainder, showing how attention and speed both drive outcomes.
05 · Category
Compliance & Standards2 stats
01
91% of scholarly journals are hosted on platforms using COUNTER-compliant usage reporting (share of journals using COUNTER standard).
02
21.9% of articles in the Scopus-indexed literature were published in fully open access journals in 2021 (share of OA journal articles in Scopus).
Interpretation
Compliance & Standards Interpretation
The compliance picture is strong, with 91% of scholarly journals using COUNTER-compliant usage reporting, and the shift toward standardized access is also clear since 21.9% of Scopus-indexed articles were published in fully open access journals in 2021.
06 · Category
User Adoption1 stats
01
68% of editorial teams reported using AI-assisted tools for language editing and/or quality checks by 2024 (AI tool adoption for editing/quality)
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
By 2024, 68% of editorial teams had adopted AI-assisted tools for language editing and quality checks, showing rapid user uptake of AI capabilities in academic publishing.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Marie Larsen. (2026, February 13). Academic Publishing Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/academic-publishing-industry-statistics
MLA
Marie Larsen. "Academic Publishing Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/academic-publishing-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Marie Larsen. 2026. "Academic Publishing Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/academic-publishing-industry-statistics.
Sources & references
27 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+6 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)