The Charleston Hub (with its storied history) is an important institution in the scholarly-publishing orbit. Its most visible project is the Charleston Conference, meeting since 1980 and an indispensable gathering for librarians and publishers. In 2023 the conference (together the other Charleston initiatives) was acquired by the laudable nonprofit Annual Reviews—a pioneer in the subscribe-to-open movement. More recently Charleston and Annual Reviews launched Katina, an exciting new magazine on OA publishing and librarianship. All good—or better than good.
So I was disappointed by the latest episode of Charleston’s long-running podcast Against the Grain. It featured Mark Hannell, a Digital Science vice-president. Not coincidentally, the episode was sponsored by Digital Science too. Fine, even though it’s a little unseemly to host figures from a sponsor—it has the feel of native advertising, whereby an outfit buys legitimacy by mimicking independent content. (Choice, from the nonprofit Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), has had a similar approach recently—podcasts sponsored by Taylor & Francis, featuring lots of Taylor & Francis guests.)
The real problem, with the Charleston podcast, was the lack of sponsorship context. Listeners had no idea that Digital Science is a for-profit venture and, more importantly, an octopus arm of the sprawling, big-five scholarly publishing oligopoly. (Digital Science is owned by Holtzbrinck, Springer Nature’s parent company.)
From the show notes:
This episode is sponsored by Digital Science, a global leader in AI-driven technology, providing advanced software and data solutions that empower researchers, universities, and organizations across the research ecosystem. Born out of the research community itself, Digital Science was founded by researchers who sought to solve the challenges they were facing. Now Digital Science is dedicated to making open, collaborative, and inclusive research a reality, partnering with academic institutions to provide pioneering AI-powered tools that enhance decision-making, foster innovation, and help shape a future where trusted, collaborative research drives progress for all. Learn more at https://www.digital-science.com/. Today’s episode features Caroline Goldsmith, Associate Director, Charleston Hub, who talks with Dr. Mark Hahnel, VP of Open Research, Digital Science, and Founder of Figshare.
The episode reports on a Digital Science survey, all of it perfectly anodyne. But it’s filled with softball questions and makes no mention of profit nor Springer Nature. Listeners deserve that context.