SCHOLAR FREEDOM
Our mission is to open credible research direct to the public & ensure researchers can get fair pay
Start publishing for free!
Who are we for?
We are for researchers who stand against the harmful status quo as an act of self respect
Do you believe closed peer review is trustworthy, and researchers are paid to create knowledge as a public good? ... Got bad news.
Us, in a nutshell
No one else has done the hard but essential work of reforming academic publishing from the psychological and financial harms of neoliberalism to researchers, but we were driven to restore equity by building an alternative without which the scholarly record is ultimately at risk. In speaking truthfully about the knowledge-production system, we help knowledge-creators see where they fit and affirm their values, sovereignty, and 'why'.
Our site is a public good
True to the researchers' role in society to report truth ethically and rigorously, our site about how credible knowledge is currently produced, shared, and rewarded is free.
We're not for everyone
We will only suit researchers who can no longer enable the unfair status quo, and outputs they choose to publish on our site may not yet be recognised by their university.
Neoliberalism is a root of injustice
It takes a long time to change what's normal but fair pay and recognition are worthy causes that independent researcher-centric publishing provides, so we'll wait.
We've made knowledge sharing community-led and community-owned
Grassroots
We've been built by a researcher who cares for researchers' needs
Independent
We reject all prestige metrics and rankings as flawed and harmful
Community-run
Power is decentralised for academic democracy and self-governance
Scholar-sustained
Paying a small member fee for our upkeep helps keep investors out
Open science
Preprint & post-publication review are identified, and paywalls optional
Ethical
If you are committed to scholarly values, that's all you need to stay!
We're for researchers looking to share their credible knowledge as a public or affordable good – hybrid Diamond Open Access (OA). They support:
IMPACT, EQUITY, MERIT, AFFORDABILITY
Self-publishing
DEIAJ including reparation
Quality, not quantity, of outputs
Rejecting prestige metrics
Paying no or low-cost membership
REMUNERATION, ATTRIBUTION
The option to publish for free
The option to paywall their work
Control on their pricing and sales plan
Proportionate pay for the true authors
TRANSPARENCY, EMPOWERMENT
Optional and open peer review
Thorough and qualitative peer review
Staying in charge of feedback
Publishing when ready
Retaining all IP and author rights
ACCOUNTABILITY, COLLECTIVITY
Ongoing post-publication review
Ongoing flagging of unethical outputs
Sharing decision on freezing outputs
Paying members for vetting outputs
Blocking reviewers for hate speech
If you're relieved or shocked, keep reading to learn how we're different!
Show me more!
How publishing works
If you're ready to jump off the journal rejection belt that's compromising your academic freedom, here's a summary of our steps.
1
Format your work correctly
Some output types need to be formatted in our 'SF_Word Template'. You can: (1) do this yourself, (2) engage a professional, or (3) ask us for an affordable quote. Here's what to do if you don't need to use our in-house Template.
THIS IS TO PROFESSIONALISE OUTPUTS
THIS IS TO PROFESSIONALISE OUTPUTS
2
Approve your author contribution
After the first author uploads the output (preprint or publication), all co-authors log in to their dashboard to approve the 'Author Contribution Statement' (ACS). They are then paid in proportion to the ACS per PDF sale.
THIS IS TO PROTECT AGAINST IP THEFT
THIS IS TO PROTECT AGAINST IP THEFT
3
Implement your own sales plan
If the labour and equipment costs for the research have not been fully paid for by the public/employers, authors can STILL choose to make their PDF full-text free and are in charge of letting people know it's ready to buy or read.
THIS IS TO REMOVE COERCIVE REWARDS
THIS IS TO REMOVE COERCIVE REWARDS
4
Understand and follow the rules
Open peer review (OPR) for preprints is optional because all outputs face ongoing open post-publication review. Members then decide if your PDF stays frozen or if you are blocked, and all outputs are checked for ethics on upload too.
THIS IS FOR DEMOCRATIC GATEKEEPING
THIS IS FOR DEMOCRATIC GATEKEEPING
Are you a 'first mover'?
Start preparing now!
Quick links
Once you've read our site to confirm that it's for you, simply follow these easy steps!
Popular
1 Sign up for free
Create your free account!
2 Select your plan
There's 4 options – one free!
3 Get your work ready
Check it meets our criteria
4 Review its quality
Is it ethical and rigorous?
5 Find an editor
Polish your work with a pro!
6 Watch an upload
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What would you like to do today?
We fully support researchers' checks on work quality and defensibility ... for the public's good.
THE PUBLIC
Find research/teaching resources in all disciplines and languages
Search our database
RESEARCHERS
Share your final version with readers that can benefit from it
Upload your publication
RESEARCHERS
Get feedback on your 'very good' draft manuscript to help finalise it
Upload your preprint
REVIEWERS
Accept an invitation from authors to provide feedback on their draft
Review a preprint
EDITORS
Help our researchers with typesetting, proofreading, and/or copyediting
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Recent news
Radical change in the left and right has been long time coming
Word is spreading!
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OUR SITE IS FOR ALL KEY STAKEHOLDERS:
- Researchers
- Reviewers
- Journal editors
- Academic editors
- University promotion panels
- University librarians
- Research funders
- Policy makers
- Scholarly associations
- All industries
- The public
US Executive Orders and beyond These are clarifying times that affirm the necessity of independent academic publishing
DISCLAIMER – Drawing boundaries on our justification
We launched in February 2022 with a lean user-friendly site focusing on our publishing process. In response to criticism from privileged researchers it later grew to explain our complex context, thus providing advocacy for researchers who are oppressed and exploited in addition to infrastructure supporting their voice and money equity. Each new government across the world will impact how science is funded and communicated, and it will not be possible to keep reporting these as evidence for why we were built: the core harms that neoliberalism has caused academia for decades remain in need of reparation which our platform does, so the content on this site is accurate at December 2024 and no further emendations will be made to justify that our intention all along was system reform.
TERMINOLOGY – What's acceptable on our site
Additionally: (i) the precision and accuracy of science depends on the precision and accuracy of language, and (ii) free speech is not hate speech. Together, and as an independent publisher, the following are not forbidden words on our site as per the January 2025 US Executive Orders on censorship in research publications (which other countries are following) but speaking hate is. An Orwellian crisis is also an opportunity: now is the time for anti-authoritarian stakeholders to support brave publishing models committed to ethical truth and human rights above all else to ensure the research dissemination ecosystem is as diverse as funding and workers' experiences have long been. No researcher should have ever faced the threat of homelessness to serve the public good.
TERMINOLOGY – What's acceptable on our site
Additionally: (i) the precision and accuracy of science depends on the precision and accuracy of language, and (ii) free speech is not hate speech. Together, and as an independent publisher, the following are not forbidden words on our site as per the January 2025 US Executive Orders on censorship in research publications (which other countries are following) but speaking hate is. An Orwellian crisis is also an opportunity: now is the time for anti-authoritarian stakeholders to support brave publishing models committed to ethical truth and human rights above all else to ensure the research dissemination ecosystem is as diverse as funding and workers' experiences have long been. No researcher should have ever faced the threat of homelessness to serve the public good.
Forbidden words
Reports
ANNUAL REPORT 2023/24
As a publisher rooted in what's best for researchers, we are counter culture. It's raised eyebrows but we have taken all critiques seriously, making this year's annual report a lengthy part-manifesto. It explains the reasoning behind each element of our radically left system design and business model as well as our progress toward equity in academic publishing.
Read the report
AUSTRALIA'S PUBLIC ACCESS MODEL
The outgoing Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS, 2021-24) sought sector-wide advice on their proposal for a public access model. We applaud its boldness and intent to reform scholarly publishing, but also offer deeper reflections from extensive knowledge of the national landscape and for global researcher advocacy as it moves from development to implementation.
Read our response
Ahead of your time!
- Professor of Open Access (OA), Aus 2023
Too good to be true!
- Librarian, UK 2024
HUMANISING RESEARCHERS – WE'RE WRITERS, NOT SLAVES.
Workers rights are human rights, and human rights is our business model.
Standing up to institutions to demand psychological and financial safety in exchange for vocational integrity comes from 'death by a thousand neoliberal cuts' – used to seek fairness for all researchers, where they retain personal power and financial power is distributed. Fixing the messes of neoliberal academia should not fall to the people whose human rights it violated, but it's our only hope as powerful systems have shown they will protect their power over the people who power them. This life is not a drill, and our reforms to academic publishing are rooted in anti-slavery to take back the power that should have never been taken. For some of us, our survival for producing truthful knowledge for the public will no longer be negotiable.
Standing up to institutions to demand psychological and financial safety in exchange for vocational integrity comes from 'death by a thousand neoliberal cuts' – used to seek fairness for all researchers, where they retain personal power and financial power is distributed. Fixing the messes of neoliberal academia should not fall to the people whose human rights it violated, but it's our only hope as powerful systems have shown they will protect their power over the people who power them. This life is not a drill, and our reforms to academic publishing are rooted in anti-slavery to take back the power that should have never been taken. For some of us, our survival for producing truthful knowledge for the public will no longer be negotiable.
BE SEEN, BE PAID
Copyright © 2020-2025. All rights reserved.
Scholar Freedom® Pty Ltd (ACN 651 301 754).
Last updated: 11 March 2025
Last updated: 11 March 2025
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