A New Concept for the Direct Funding and Evaluation of Scientific Journals (2025)

Access to scientific knowledge is essential for science, as well as for tackling societal challenges. However, the limitation of this access by paywalls comes at a cost to public finances and also, increasingly, to scientific quality. In light of this situation, the authors of a discussion paper published today by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina propose a new funding principle for scientific journals that would make these publications freely available to everyone. Thus, a key aspect is for the funding of journals to follow the same procedure as publicly funded research. This would involve an application process to run a journal as well as regular evaluation. The aim is to guarantee lasting quality, transparency, and scientific relevance while also cutting costs.