With over 8.9 million new scholarly articles flooding the databases last year alone, the world of publishing is exploding at an unprecedented pace, as seen by a 25% growth in global output, China surpassing the United States for the first time, and open access now accounting for more than half of all new research.
Key Takeaways
- In 2022, Scopus indexed 8.9 million scholarly documents published globally, representing a 5.7% increase from 2021
- The total number of peer-reviewed journals worldwide exceeded 50,000 in 2023, with Elsevier alone publishing over 2,800
- Between 2018 and 2022, global publication output grew by 25%, reaching 9.5 million documents in 2022 per Dimensions database
- China published 1.06 million citable documents in Scopus 2022, surpassing the US's 593,000 for the first time
- The United States led in high-impact publications with 18.5% share of top 1% cited papers globally in 2021, per Clarivate Analytics
- India’s scientific publication output grew 14.7% annually from 2018-2022, totaling 250,000 papers in 2022
- In medicine, the US accounted for 40% of global publications in 2022 with over 400,000 papers
- Physics publications worldwide totaled 450,000 in 2022, with CERN-affiliated papers receiving 2.5 million citations
- Social sciences saw 1.2 million publications in 2021, growing 8% yearly, per Web of Science
- The global academic publishing market was valued at $19.6 billion in 2022, projected to reach $26.5 billion by 2030
- Subscription-based journals generated 65% of publishing revenue in 2022, totaling $12.7 billion
- Article processing charges (APCs) for open access averaged $2,200 per paper in 2023
- Total books published globally in 2022 exceeded 2.2 million new titles, per Nielsen BookScan
- The US published 1.2 million book titles in 2022, with self-published books comprising 50%
- Academic books numbered 250,000 worldwide in 2022, 30% open access
Global publication output surged in 2022, led by China and dominated by open access articles.
Books
- Total books published globally in 2022 exceeded 2.2 million new titles, per Nielsen BookScan
- The US published 1.2 million book titles in 2022, with self-published books comprising 50%
- Academic books numbered 250,000 worldwide in 2022, 30% open access
- Children's books accounted for 15% of global titles with 330,000 new releases in 2022
- Germany published 90,000 books in 2022
- France's book market had 75,000 new titles, 25% translated
- India printed 100,000 books, mostly educational
- Non-fiction books dominated with 55% of US titles in 2022
- China published 500,000 books in 2022
- UK fiction books 30% of 250,000 titles
- Self-published e-books 1 million on Smashwords 2022
- Romance genre 20% of book sales
Books Interpretation
The publishing world's 2022 snapshot reveals a hopeful cacophony where over 2.2 million new voices clamored for attention, half of them springing directly from authors' laptops, proving that while everyone might have a book in them, getting it onto someone else's screen is now the real plot twist.
Country Outputs
- China published 1.06 million citable documents in Scopus 2022, surpassing the US's 593,000 for the first time
- The United States led in high-impact publications with 18.5% share of top 1% cited papers globally in 2021, per Clarivate Analytics
- India’s scientific publication output grew 14.7% annually from 2018-2022, totaling 250,000 papers in 2022
- Germany published 110,000 scholarly articles in 2022, focusing 25% on engineering and technology fields
- UK published 250,000 books in 2022, 40% fiction
- Japan leads in manga publications with 500,000 volumes yearly
- Brazil's scholarly output rose 10% to 80,000 papers in 2022
- Australia's publications totaled 45,000 in 2022, strong in environmental sciences
- Canada output 60,000 papers, 25% in health sciences
- South Korea published 130,000 articles, top in nanotechnology
- Netherlands excels in citations per paper at 1.5 average
- Italy’s outputs 70,000 papers yearly in humanities
Country Outputs Interpretation
China has roared past the US in sheer publication volume, proving quantity has a new heavyweight champion, but the US still deftly holds the crown for high-impact quality, while other nations carve out impressive and increasingly specialized niches in the global knowledge arena.
Digital
- Online news publications grew 12% to 50,000 sites globally in 2023
- E-books downloads hit 1.5 billion worldwide in 2022
- Academic e-papers accessed 10 billion times in 2022 via Sci-Hub and legal platforms
- Social media publications totaled 500 million posts daily in 2023
- Blogs and independent sites published 1 billion articles in 2022
- Podcast episodes as audio publications hit 4 million new in 2023
- Video publications on YouTube totaled 500 hours uploaded per minute in 2023
- Institutional repositories host 50 million documents openly
- Newsletters via Substack 3 million paid subs 2023
- SSRN preprints 1.5 million documents
- ResearchGate shares 200 million publications
- ORCID profiles link 15 million publications
Digital Interpretation
We are drowning in information, yet our thirst for it has only turned into a global flood, proving we'd rather be buried by a library than left with an empty shelf.
Discipline Breakdown
- In medicine, the US accounted for 40% of global publications in 2022 with over 400,000 papers
- Physics publications worldwide totaled 450,000 in 2022, with CERN-affiliated papers receiving 2.5 million citations
- Social sciences saw 1.2 million publications in 2021, growing 8% yearly, per Web of Science
- Engineering field publications reached 1.1 million in 2022, led by China with 350,000 outputs
- Chemistry publications hit 600,000 globally in 2022
- Biology field saw 900,000 papers, 20% open access
- Economics publications numbered 150,000 in 2022
- Computer science outputs reached 700,000, led by AI subfield with 200,000
- Materials science publications 400,000 in 2022
- Environmental sciences grew 15% to 350,000 papers
- Mathematics papers totaled 200,000, arXiv dominant
- Psychology field 250,000 publications in 2022
Discipline Breakdown Interpretation
It seems America is the world’s hospital, China its workshop, CERN its rockstar, and everyone else is just trying to keep up with the ever-expanding, citation-chasing paper mill.
Global Trends
- In 2022, Scopus indexed 8.9 million scholarly documents published globally, representing a 5.7% increase from 2021
- The total number of peer-reviewed journals worldwide exceeded 50,000 in 2023, with Elsevier alone publishing over 2,800
- Between 2018 and 2022, global publication output grew by 25%, reaching 9.5 million documents in 2022 per Dimensions database
- Open access publications accounted for 52% of all indexed articles in 2022, up from 45% in 2020, according to DOAJ and PMC data
- Preprint servers like arXiv hosted 250,000 new papers in 2023
- PubMed indexed 35 million biomedical publications by 2023
- Web of Science covers 256 disciplines with 21,000 journals
- Crossref registered 100 million DOIs for publications since 2002
- Russia published 120,000 papers in 2022 despite sanctions
- Africa’s publication output doubled to 100,000 papers 2015-2022
- Latin America produced 200,000 scholarly works in 2022
- Patents as technical publications reached 3.5 million globally in 2022
Global Trends Interpretation
While the academic world is busy celebrating a flood of over 9 million new publications a year and finally tipping into an open access majority, one can't help but wonder if we are all diligently sharpening pencils on a ship that is, in fact, already underwater.
Industry Economics
- The global academic publishing market was valued at $19.6 billion in 2022, projected to reach $26.5 billion by 2030
- Subscription-based journals generated 65% of publishing revenue in 2022, totaling $12.7 billion
- Article processing charges (APCs) for open access averaged $2,200 per paper in 2023
- Mergers reduced independent publishers from 3,000 to 1,800 between 2015-2023
- STM publishing revenue hit $25.5 billion in 2022
- Hybrid journals make up 60% of market, charging $3,000 APC average
- Self-publishing platforms like Amazon KDP sold 1.5 million titles in 2022
- Print-on-demand books grew 30% to 2 million units in 2023
- Big Four publishers control 50% market share, $12 billion revenue
- APC inflation at 5% yearly, averaging $2,500 in 2023
- Library budgets for journals up 4% to $10 billion in 2022
- Print book sales 750 million units in US 2022
Industry Economics Interpretation
Behind a thin veil of noble pursuit, the business of publishing knowledge has perfected the art of selling the same candle twice: first to the university library for a king's ransom and then, with a straight face, to the very researcher who lit it for an additional three grand.
Journals
- Over 25,000 peer-reviewed journals are active globally as of 2023
- Elsevier publishes 2,900 journals with 700,000 articles annually
- Taylor & Francis outputs 2,700 journals and 200,000 articles per year
- Open access journals grew to 18,000 by 2023, per DOAJ
- Springer Nature publishes 3,000 journals
- Wiley has 1,600 journals with 1.5 million articles since inception
- MDPI open access publisher released 400,000 papers in 2022
- Cabell's lists 16,000 predatory-free journals
- SAGE publishes 1,000 journals
- IOP Publishing 80 journals in physics
- PLOS has 12 open access journals, 50,000 papers yearly
- Diamond OA journals number 17,000 no-fee model
Journals Interpretation
The sheer volume of published research is staggering, yet one can't help but wonder how many of these papers are truly read and not just another entry in the academic arms race for quantity over quality.
Newspapers
- US daily newspapers numbered 1,100 in 2023, down 2% from 2022
- Global newspaper circulation fell to 150 million daily copies in 2022
- Digital newspaper subscriptions reached 25 million in the US by 2023
- Magazine titles worldwide totaled 40,000 in 2022, with consumer mags at 70%
- Local newspapers in US dropped to 6,900 weeklies in 2023
- UK's newspaper circulation is 30 million weekly
- Ad revenue for newspapers fell 50% since 2010 to $10 billion in 2022
- Consumer magazines revenue $27 billion globally in 2022
- Community newspapers 7,000 in US 2023
- India newspapers circulation 400 million daily
- Digital ads for news $60 billion global 2022
- Trade magazines 25,000 worldwide
Newspapers Interpretation
The traditional newspaper, once a daily must-have, is now merely a charmingly stubborn habit as the industry limps toward a digital future while India alone reads enough newsprint to paper over the rest of the world's declines.
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