The academic publishing system has been in crisis for years. Publishers strive to make profits; academics have to publish works; reviewers are supposed to provide comprehensive feedback for free—and in the humanities especially these dynamics shape an overburdened, gatekeeping system, and largely opaque ecosystem. This roundtable, organized by The February Journal, will explore how the current institutional arrangements around peer review demand labor, enforce conformity, and reproduce barriers that are especially acute in the humanities, where norms of evidence, interpretation, and evaluation differ from those in the natural sciences.

Special issue (Spring 2026)

Edited by Anisha Anantpurkar and Pasha Tretyakova 

Special issue (Fall 2025) 

Edited by The February Journal

Special issue (Spring 2025)

Edited by Isabel Bredenbröker

Special issue (Spring 2024)

Edited by Shura Dogadaeva and Andrei Zavadski

Special issue (Winter 2023)

Edited by Shura Dogadaeva and Andrei Zavadski