Academic publishing connects global R&D spending to the business models shaping discovery, peer review, and access. Here, we trace how research sharing practices evolve—like 50% of Unpaywall-listed journal articles being available as open access in 2016—and how libraries and institutions face rising costs. You’ll also see how AI is entering editorial workflows and how usage reporting standards are being applied across the industry.
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 alongside rising research investment, AI editorial tools, and continued attention to predatory 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
For Industry Trends, the shift toward openness and smarter workflows is clear with 50% of journal articles being open access in Unpaywall by 2016 and with 66% of institutions adopting AI-enabled tools for editorial screening or reviewer matching by 2024.
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
The market-size data shows that academic publishing is backed by very large underlying demand, with global scholarly publishing reaching $29.2 billion in 2024 while adjacent services and formats also add scale, such as $4.8 billion in academic publishing services in 2023 and $12.3 billion for open access transformation in 2023.
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
For the cost analysis of academic publishing, APC related expenses are clearly rising and under pressure, with US library serials spending increasing by 12.9% in 2021 and average APCs growing 7.4% annually from 2019 to 2022, while predatory-journal APC levels still reach around $500 to $1,000 and even show a $5,000 median in one 2020 study.
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
Performance metrics in academic publishing point to a speed and volume-driven system, with average peer review taking about 45 days and 63% of manuscripts facing desk rejection immediately, all while traffic reaches 1.3 billion unique visits in 2022 and ORCID records total 111 million.
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
With 91% of journals using COUNTER-compliant usage reporting, compliance in scholarly publishing is largely standardized, even as open access grows to 21.9% of Scopus-indexed articles in 2021, showing that standards increasingly support OA transparency rather than just traditional access models.
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 were already using AI assisted tools for language editing and quality checks, signaling rapid user adoption of AI within academic publishing workflows.
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)