https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200109/08383943705/academic-journals-russia-retract-over-800-papers-because-plagiarism-self-plagiarism-gift-authorship.shtml > Academic publishing hardly covers itself in glory, as Techdirt has reported over the years. It takes advantage of researchers' belief that they need to publish in so-called "high impact" titles for the sake of their careers, in order to pay nothing for the material they provide. Since articles are reviewed by other academics -- for free -- profit margins are extremely good: around 30-40%. In order to retain these unusually high levels, the industry does everything in its power to undermine and subvert cheaper alternatives like open access, and often takes a heavy-handed approach to the enforcement of "its" copyright -- even against the original author. Given this dismal industry background, it will come as no surprise to learn from Science magazine that Russian academic publishing has its own problems, fueled by the bad behavior of authors: > Academic journals in Russia are retracting more than 800 papers following a probe into unethical publication practices by a commission appointed by the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). The moves come in the wake of several other queries suggesting the vast Russian scientific literature is riddled with plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and so-called gift authorship, in which academics become a co-author without having contributed any work.