Inside the academic publishing pressure cooker: Challenges and possibilities within the ecosystem

Academics research and publish within a highly pressured ecosystem, much like being in a pressure cooker. Similar to Bronfenbrenner’s (1986) ecological model, a researcher's ecosystem has nested systems of influence, starting with the individual researcher, their microsystem, and the extent to which the microsystem supports the researcher’s work in the mesosystem. The publishing landscape is the exosystem, directly impacting the microsystem. Additionally, the macrosystem is the global landscape in which all elements operate. Each layer affects the others, and all systems are affected by changes over time within the chronosystem. While there are many enablers within the system, this article focuses on the challenges and possibilities.