{"id":55,"date":"2025-10-31T15:33:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T19:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/chapter\/the-next-transformation-generative-ai-and-academic-publishing\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:11:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T21:11:32","slug":"the-next-transformation-generative-ai-and-academic-publishing","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/chapter\/the-next-transformation-generative-ai-and-academic-publishing\/","title":{"raw":"The Next Transformation: Generative AI and Academic Publishing","rendered":"The Next Transformation: Generative AI and Academic Publishing"},"content":{"raw":"In January 2024, the library research and consulting organization [pb_glossary id=\"276\"]Ithaka S+R [\/pb_glossary] released a report on what they referred to as the \u201csecond digital transformation\u201d of scholarly publishing. Touching on many of the themes and topics discussed in this chalter, the second digital transformation is framed as a revamping of the structures, workflows, incentives and outputs that characterized the print era. Noting that the first digital transformation occurred with the advent of the internet, the authors point out that the initial shift from print to digital did not immediately result in new modes of publishing, with scholars and publishers alike clinging to limiting conceptual models that privilege the peer reviewed article as the preeminent scholarly output and resist the democratization of knowledge discovery and dissemination.[footnote]Bergstrom,\u202fT., & Ruediger,\u202fD.\u202f(2024, October 30). A Third Transformation?: Generative\u202fAI and Scholarly\u202fPublishing. Ithaka\u202fS+R. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.18665\/sr.321519<\/a>[\/footnote]\n\nIn October 2024, Ithaka S+R released another report, entitled \u201cA Third Transformation? Generative AI and Scholarly Publishing<\/a>.\u201d Among other things, this report notes that while at the time they were conducting interviews (in early 2023) for their earlier publication there was talk of generative AI (GenAI), among participants: \u201cit was just beginning to make its presence felt in academia and society\u201d but since then, it has become \u201cinescapable\u201d.[footnote]Ibid[\/footnote] In other words, while the initial transformative effects of the shift to digital took twenty plus years to emerge, developments in GenAI have taken only a year to have a significant impact on academic publishing. Because of the rapid pace of change, academic publishing stakeholders are still struggling to make sense of the potential that GenAI has to transform publishing. First movers have begun to incorporate GenAI into their products and service offerings, while publishers and academic institutions are attempting to address the ethical considerations of GenAI through policy and procedure revisions.\n\nAt the time of writing this chatper (early 2025), it is not yet apparent how disruptive artificial intelligence (AI), and in particular GenAI, will be to the scholarly publishing ecosystem or the advancement of open access (OA). However, we have begun to see the ways that publishers and authors are starting to navigate both the opportunities and challenges posed by AI.\n

Opportunities<\/h2>\n