Do you know how much it costs to gain access to a scholarly journal? A recent search revealed that, for an article published in 2009, I would have to pay $38 dollars to access that one article. But not permanently. Just for 24 hours, after which it would disappear. I’m not sure I’ve ever read an entire book compelling enough to pay that much, let alone a single article I couldn’t actually keep. But, such is the journal system.
On top of that, scholars are told to write in a such a way that the journals prefer, as their careers and livelihoods depend on publication and citation. But, does anyone outside of the ivory tower actually find this writing accessible? So, academia produces work that is both literally and figuratively impossible to access. And it’s a problem.
What if I told you it didn’t have to be this way? Sure, the journals own the articles and they can’t just be re-produced wholesale, just like an issue of a magazine or a book. But say you wanted to read about research that had interesting findings that had an impact on the current world? Even just on your way to work, or, if you’re a teacher or principal, getting your students to learn about what’s new and well-researched instead of something that was pushed to them via the algorithm?
I present to you, The JPB Index. As all of you reading this know My name is Dr. JPB Gerald, I’m a frequently-published and -cited scholar and author, and I want to bring scholarship to the masses. For a low monthly subscription fee, members will receive five curated article summaries – with full permission and cooperation of the authors, and no AI scraping – that cover a wide array of topics, from education to science, history to language, and anything I feel needs to be shared with the world. You and I both know that misinformation is rampant, yet we also know that scholarship isn’t reaching everyone, no matter how impactful its findings may be.
In short, I am trying to build out a large enough subscriber base such that I can help scholars rise from obscurity into prominence and help beat back a rotten system that benefits very few. At this point, I need to get as many people as possible to sign up as founding subscribers to launch as soon as possible – I have plenty of scholars ready and eager to have their work shared with you and everyone else.
Ultimately, I want people to learn, and I want scholars to be heard (and paid). If this interests you at all, as either a compensated scholar, an individual member, or a representative of a department, school, or district who might be interested in providing knowledge to their staff and/or students, please email me at galivantsferry@jpbgerald.com to receive a free sample issue, and let’s get to work.
Thanks for reading.
Dr. JPB Gerald
JPB Gerald 