Beyond the Oligopoly: Scholarly Journal Publishing Landscapes in Latin America and Europe

Abstract

This study investigates the diversity of national scholarly journal publishing ecosystems in seven countries across Europe and Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, Mexico, Poland, and Türkiye. It challenges the common perception that global scholarly publishing is dominated by international commercial publishers by examining national publishing structures beyond English speaking contexts. Using ISSN Centre data and national sources, we analyse journal-level publishing structures rather than article- or citation-level outputs. Publishers were categorized according to their institutional and organizational characteristics. The analysis focuses on active journals, defined as those with a recorded start year and no identified termination date. Journal coverage in Web of Science, Scopus, and OpenAlex was examined to assess how national publishing landscapes are represented in major bibliometric databases. Educational institutions emerge as the primary publishers in most countries, representing more than 75% of journals in Colombia and Brazil and more than 50% in Mexico, Argentina, and Poland. Finland stands out, with scientific and professional associations leading journal publication at 62%. Commercial publishers hold comparatively small shares, reaching their highest levels in Türkiye at 12.1% and Poland at 8.2%. In terms of database representation, OpenAlex indexes over half of the journals in most countries, whereas Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus cover only a small portion. The study relies on ISSN and national datasets, which differ in completeness and standardization. Variations in national reporting practices and database indexing policies may influence coverage comparisons. As the analysis is based on currently active journals, historical trends reflect surviving journals only. The results provide evidence for policymakers, database providers, and research evaluators to recognize the diversity of national publishing systems. They highlight the importance of improving data sources and analytical approaches to ensure more accurate assessment of scholarly communication outside heavily commercialized environments. The study offers a comparative analysis of national journal publishing ecosystems across seven countries, revealing structural differences that challenge the assumption of a globally uniform publishing model. It underscores the need for bibliometric research frameworks that include and accurately represent national and regional publishing structures.