Estimated APC spending, 2019-2023, among six major publishers.
Haustein et al.About Durham & Thunmann Press
Academic publishing should serve knowledge before markets.
Founded in 2024 by academics, for academics, Durham & Thunmann Press offers rigorous open-access publishing without financial barriers for authors or readers.
Research-paper retractions passed this mark in 2023.
Nature analysis.Durham & Thunmann annual readership growth in the last two years.
Internal D&T data.Why academic publishing needs a different route
Academic publishing has become larger, faster, more expensive and more difficult to govern.
The system now faces ethical pressures that cannot be treated as isolated exceptions: editorial malpractice, excessive publication costs, profit-driven incentives, paper mills, predatory journals, manipulated peer review, and a growing volume of AI-assisted or low-quality outputs.
When the ability to pay, institutional status or commercial potential becomes more visible than the quality of a manuscript, academic publishing loses part of its original public function: to filter, preserve and disseminate reliable knowledge.
- Editorial malpractice
- Excessive publication costs
- Profit-driven incentives
- Paper mills
- Predatory journals
- Manipulated peer review
- AI-assisted or low-quality outputs
Source: Haustein et al.; values in 2023 dollars.
A credibility problem, not only a pricing problem
If confidence weakens, anti-scientific and dogmatic information becomes easier to spread.
The crisis is not limited to the cost of publishing. It is a credibility problem. When weak editorial checks allow fabricated manuscripts to enter the scholarly record, when predatory journals imitate legitimate publishing, and when research integrity problems are discovered only after publication, public trust in science is damaged.
Readers, students, institutions, public authorities and civil society need to know that scientific information has been filtered through transparent and competent editorial processes.
- 01 Editorial crisis
- 02 Loss of trust
- 03 D&T founded
- 04 Open model
- 05 Global collaboration
Why judgment must remain academic, not commercial
Editorial judgment must remain intellectually serious, patient, method-based and independent from trend, status and marketability.
The history of Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman is a reminder that important research is not always immediately recognized by prestige-based systems. Their 2005 work on nucleoside-modified mRNA was initially rejected by leading journals, yet the discoveries later became fundamental to effective mRNA vaccines and were recognized with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
This example should be used carefully: it does not prove that every rejection is wrong, nor that traditional journals lack value. It shows something more precise and more important for Durham & Thunmann.
Why Durham & Thunmann Press was born
We are not building a shortcut around academic standards. We are building a route back to them.
Durham & Thunmann Press was born in 2024 to contribute an alternative. Its purpose is simple, but demanding: to build a publishing house and scholarly community where authors are evaluated for the quality of their work, readers can access knowledge freely, and editors protect the boundary between scientific knowledge and anti-scientific or dogmatic information.
The route is transparent, open, academically governed and independent.
Thesis
Durham & Thunmann Press was founded to restore the centrality of scientific quality, reduce economic barriers and rebuild public trust in academic knowledge through an open-access, free-of-charge and academically governed model.
Our model
A press is academic infrastructure, not a marketplace for publications.
Durham & Thunmann therefore presents itself not as a marketplace for publications, but as an academic infrastructure: journals, books, editorial boards, peer review, public access and international scholarly cooperation working together.
Academic governance
Editorial decisions must be based on field relevance, method, evidence, contribution and integrity.
Free of charge and open access
Authors, reviewers and readers should not be excluded by publication fees or access barriers.
International reach
Knowledge should circulate across countries, languages, institutions and disciplines.
Our progress
The mission is already becoming visible.
In the last two years, Durham & Thunmann readership has grown from 10,000 to 70,000 readers per year. The Press regularly publishes at least two issues per journal, and an increasing number of colleagues are joining its journals as authors, editors and readers while the free-of-charge, full open-access mission remains intact.
10,000
readers per year two years ago
70,000
readers per year today
2+
issues per journal published regularly
Internal D&T data to confirm before publication.
What comes next
Expansion with responsibility.
The next stage is expansion with responsibility. Durham & Thunmann Press will develop new international collaborations with universities and institutions, launch new journals, welcome new editors, and open book publication.
We are open to collaboration, but not to lowering standards. We invite institutions and scholars who share a commitment to academic integrity, open access, and public trust in science.
- Develop new international collaborations with universities and institutions.
- Launch new journals and welcome new editors.
- Open book publication while keeping the mission intact.
Invitation to collaborate
If you believe that academic publishing should be accessible, rigorous and accountable, we invite you to work with us.
Durham & Thunmann Press welcomes collaboration with universities, research institutes, academic departments, learned societies, individual professors, researchers, editors, reviewers and authors.
Contact the PressUniversities and research institutes
Institutional partnerships, journal development and public-facing initiatives for the circulation of knowledge.
Academic departments and learned societies
Special issues, book series, translation projects and editorial cooperation.
Professors, researchers, editors and authors
Editorial board participation, reviewing, authorship and reader communities.
Sources and transparency
Public sources support the macro data; internal D&T figures should be confirmed before publication.
Haustein, S. et al. (2024)
Estimating global article processing charges paid to six publishers for open access between 2019 and 2023.
Nature / Van Noorden (2023)
More than 10,000 research papers were retracted in 2023 - a new record.
COPE
Paper mills - guidance and resources on threats to the scholarly record.
COPE
Predatory publishing - discussion document and warning signs.
Nobel Prize (2023)
Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023.
Bansal (2023)
From rejection to the Nobel Prize: Kariko and Weissman's pioneering work on mRNA vaccines.
Durham & Thunmann Press
Official site and publishing record.