Academia Letters: Examination of an ‘Experimental’ Academia.edu Publishing Model

This article makes a historical assessment of a publishing ‘experiment’ that started in 2020 and ended in 2022 by Academia.edu , a popular academic social network site, that took the form of a peer-reviewed ‘journal,’ Academia Letters. The authors discovered a publicly hidden open-access cost, as an article processing charge of US$500, some inconsistencies or ambiguities in select editorial policies, the lack of an editorial board, and the absence of an integrity and publishing ethics policy, cumulatively indicating that this publishing model was lacking some basic, robust scholarly indices that are typically found in conventional peer-reviewed journals. Despite its short two-year history, about 4500 papers were published in Academia Letters, suggesting that this publishing model was nonetheless attractive and popular. This overview of Academia Letters will allow Academia.edu and other academic publishers to reflect on specifics or weaknesses of this publishing model before using it in the future to ensure trustworthy scholarly communication in the academic community.