Academia.edu#Criticism

Academia.edu was founded by Richard Price in 2008.{{Cite web|last=Price|first=Richard|title=Richard Price|url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/richard-price|access-date=2022-02-03|website=Entrepreneur|language=en|archive-date=February 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203165353/https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/richard-price|url-status=live}}

On its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company uses the legal name Academia Inc.{{Cite web |url=https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1553622 |access-date=12 July 2024 |department=EDGAR |website=SEC |title= Academia Inc.}} The site was registered in the .edu top-level domain in 1999 when that domain was not limited to educational institutions.

In 2013, Elsevier sent thousands of takedown notices to Academia.edu, claiming copyright infringement for Elsevier-published content that was posted on Academia.edu. Following widespread complaint of these takedown notices, Elsevier retracted their request, and academics were allowed to continue to post their publications.{{cite journal|last1=Parr|first1=Chris|title=Sharing is a way of life for millions on Academia.edu|journal=Times Higher Education|date=June 12, 2014|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/sharing-is-a-way-of-life-for-millions-on-academiaedu/2013839.article?nopaging=1|access-date=14 September 2015|archive-date=February 8, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208173402/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/sharing-is-a-way-of-life-for-millions-on-academiaedu/2013839.article?nopaging=1|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|last1=Howard|first1=Jennifer|title=Posting Your Latest Article? You Might Have to Take It Down|journal=The Chronicle of Higher Education|date=December 6, 2013|url=http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/posting-your-latest-article-you-might-have-to-take-it-down/48865|access-date=14 September 2015|archive-date=September 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908075810/http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/posting-your-latest-article-you-might-have-to-take-it-down/48865|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |last=Clarke |first=Michael |date=2013-12-11 |title=The End of an Era for Academia.edu and Other Academic Networks? |url=https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2013/12/11/has-elsevier-signaled-a-new-era-for-academia-edu-and-other-professional-networks/ |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=The Scholarly Kitchen |language=en-US}}

Critics mention several alternatives for free access publications for people who want to make their work freely available. Many universities and educational consortia have their own institutional repositories, including the Big Ten Academic Alliance. Zenodo (funded by The OpenAIRE Consortium) and Humanities Commons both work to keep humanities scholarship online without monetizing it.{{CN|date=June 2023}}

Academia.edu's competitors include ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Mendeley.{{cite web|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/do-academic-social-networks-share-academics-interests|title=Do academic social networks share academics' interests?|last1=Matthews|first1=David|date=7 April 2016|website=Times Higher Education|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417100025/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/do-academic-social-networks-share-academics-interests|archive-date=2016-04-17|url-status=live|access-date=2016-04-22}} In 2016 Academia.edu reportedly had more registered users than ResearchGate (about 34 million versus 11 million{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-15/bill-gates-backed-research-network-targets-advertising-revenues|title=Bill Gates-Backed Research Network Targets Advertising Revenue|last1=Satariano|first1=Adam|date=15 November 2016|access-date=2016-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130040113/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-15/bill-gates-backed-research-network-targets-advertising-revenues|archive-date=2016-11-30|url-status=live|website=Bloomberg}}) and higher web traffic, but ResearchGate had substantially more active usage by researchers. In 2020, the traffic ranks had reversed, with ResearchGate ranked in the top 150–200 websites globally according to Alexa Internet, whereas Academia.edu was positioned in the 200–300 range.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} Unpaywall, which collects data about open access versions of academic publications and provides easy access to them, is also considered a competitor to Academia.edu.{{cite journal|first1=Kerry|last1=Dhakal|title=Unpaywall|journal=Journal of the Medical Library Association|date=15 April 2019|volume=107|issue=2|pages=286–288|pmc=6466485|doi=10.5195/jmla.2019.650}}

As of 2025, Academia.edu Journals has launched 12 open-access journals that publish articles in various scientific fields, including medicine. As a gold open-access publisher, all articles are freely available.{{Cite web |title=Open access policy - Academia Biology - Academia.edu |url=https://www.academia.edu/journals/academia-biology/about/open-access-policy |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=www.academia.edu}}

All journals waived article processing charges for authors during the first year that a journal was launched, and continue to waive these fees for authors who come from eligible countries or can prove difficulty with paying due to lack of funding.{{Cite web |title=Article processing charges - Academia Biology - Academia.edu |url=https://www.academia.edu/journals/academia-biology/about/article-processing-charges?source=journal-top-nav |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=www.academia.edu}}

Currently, the following journals are published:{{Cite web |title=Academia.edu Journals {{!}} All Journals - Academia.edu |url=https://www.academia.edu/journals/all |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=www.academia.edu}}{{Cite web |title=The ISSN Portal |url=https://portal.issn.org/?q=api/search&search%5B%5D=MUST=publiname,pubname=academia.edu%20journals&search%5B%5D=MUST_EXIST=roadindex&role%5B%5D=11&search_id=43660855 |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=portal.issn.org}}

Academia.edu is not a university or institution for higher learning and so under current standards it would not qualify for the ".edu" top-level domain. However, since the domain name "Academia.edu" was registered in 1999, before the regulations required .edu domain names to be held solely by accredited post-secondary institutions in the US, it is allowed to remain active and operational. All .edu domain names registered before 2001 were grandfathered in, even if not an accredited USA post-secondary institution.{{cite web |url=http://net.educause.edu/edudomain/eligibility.asp |title=edu Policy Information |publisher=Net.educause.edu |date=2001-10-29 |access-date=2012-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421074131/http://net.educause.edu/edudomain/eligibility.asp |archive-date=2013-04-21 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|author=McKenna, Laura|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/12/the-convoluted-profits-of-academic-publishing/421047/|title=The Convoluted Profits of Academic Publishing|work=The Atlantic|date=17 December 2015|access-date=March 5, 2017|archive-date=December 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219233404/https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/12/the-convoluted-profits-of-academic-publishing/421047/|url-status=live}}

According to the University of Oklahoma libraries, when interacting with Academia.edu, users should keep in mind that "you are not the customer," but rather "you are the product that these services seek to monetize and/or 'offer up' to advertisers," that "you might be breaking the law," even if you are uploading your own work, and finally that "there are privacy implications," because a commercial site does not follow professional standards and "may share information about you".[https://libraries.ou.edu/content/understanding-academiaedu-and-researchgate Understanding Academia.Edu and Researchgate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419100740/https://libraries.ou.edu/content/understanding-academiaedu-and-researchgate |date=April 19, 2022 }} University of Oklahoma University Libraries

A critic, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, the director of scholarly communication at the Modern Language Association, said she found the use of the ".edu" domain name by Academia.edu to be "extremely problematic", since it might mislead users into thinking the site is part of an accredited educational institution rather than a for-profit company.

Academia.edu claims it supports the open science or open access movements and, in particular, instant distribution of research, and a peer-review system that occurs alongside distribution, instead of before it.{{cite web |author=Richard Price |url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/02/05/the-future-of-peer-review/ |title=The Future of Peer Review |publisher=TechCrunch |date=2012-02-05 |access-date=2012-02-22 |archive-date=April 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430233927/http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/05/the-future-of-peer-review/ |url-status=live }} Accordingly, the company stated its opposition to the proposed (since withdrawn) 2011 U.S. Research Works Act, which would have prevented open-access mandates in the U.S.{{cite web |author=Richard Price |url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/02/15/the-dangerous-research-works-act/ |title=The Dangerous "Research Works Act" |publisher=TechCrunch |date=2012-02-15 |access-date=2012-02-22 |archive-date=March 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312102036/http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/15/the-dangerous-research-works-act/ |url-status=live }}

However, in the view of critic Peter Suber, Academia.edu is not an open access repository and is not recommended as a way to pursue green open access. Peter Suber instead invites researchers to use field-specific repositories or general-purpose repositories like Zenodo.{{cite web |title=Open Access book §10 self help |url=https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/hoap/?title=Open_Access_%28the_book%29&oldid=5242#Chapter_10:_Self-Help |author=Peter Suber |date=2016 |access-date=May 19, 2016 |archive-date=July 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701201606/https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/hoap/?title=Open_Access_%28the_book%29&oldid=5242#Chapter_10:_Self-Help |url-status=live }}

In early 2016, some users reported having received e-mails from Academia.edu where they were asked if they would be interested in paying a fee to have their papers recommended by the website's editors.{{Cite news|url=http://www.chronicle.com/article/Scholars-Criticize/235102|title=Scholars Criticize Academia.edu Proposal to Charge Authors for Recommendations|date=2016-01-29|newspaper=The Chronicle of Higher Education|access-date=2017-01-26|archive-date=August 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805083718/http://www.chronicle.com/article/Scholars-Criticize/235102/|url-status=live}} This led some users to start a campaign encouraging users to cancel their Academia.edu accounts.{{Cite news|url=http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2016/02/01/should-you-deleteacademiaedu|title=Should you #DeleteAcademiaEdu? On the role of commercial services in scholarly communication.|date=2016-02-01|newspaper=Impact of Social Sciences|language=en-US|access-date=2017-01-26|archive-date=May 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507031227/https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2016/02/01/should-you-deleteacademiaedu/|url-status=live}}

Other criticisms include the fact that Academia.edu uses a vendor lock-in model: "It's up to Academia.edu to decide what you can and can't do with the information you've given them, and they're not likely to make it easy for alternative methods to access". This is in reference to the fact that, although papers can be read by non-users, a free account is needed in order to download papers: "you need to be logged in to do most of the useful things on the site (even as a casual reader)".

In December 2016, Academia.edu announced new premium features that includes data analytics on work and the professional rank of the viewers,{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@academia/how-do-people-find-your-papers-academia-edu-introduces-a-new-premium-feature-8b221176f57f|title=How do people find your papers? Academia.edu Introduces a New Premium Feature|last=Team|first=The Academia edu|date=2016-12-20|website=Medium|access-date=2017-01-26|archive-date=February 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202075646/https://medium.com/@academia/how-do-people-find-your-papers-academia-edu-introduces-a-new-premium-feature-8b221176f57f|url-status=live}} which have also received criticism.{{Cite news|url=http://www.plannedobsolescence.net/academia-not-edu/|title=Academia, Not Edu|date=2015-10-26|newspaper=Planned Obsolescence|language=en-US|access-date=2017-01-26|archive-date=January 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128171339/http://www.plannedobsolescence.net/academia-not-edu/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.diggitmagazine.com/column/end-academiaedu-how-business-takes-over-again|title=The end of Academia.edu: how business takes over, again|date=2017-04-26|work=diggit magazine|access-date=2017-05-02|language=en|archive-date=May 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501075033/https://www.diggitmagazine.com/column/end-academiaedu-how-business-takes-over-again|url-status=dead}}

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Category:Internet properties established in 2008

Category:American social networking websites

Category:Professional networks

Category:Social media companies of the United States

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Category:Scholarly communication

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