An Epistemological and Socio-Political Critique of Contemporary Open-Access Publishing Platforms and Author-Centric Dissemination Models in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive socio-political and epistemological critique of the contemporary global academic publishing complex, focusing on the structural transformation of knowledge dissemination within the global higher education sector. Guided by the theoretical frameworks of world-systems theory, cultural hegemony, and epistemicide, we deconstruct the political economy of multinational publishing conglomerates backed by global institutional asset managers. We argue that the widespread institutionalization of commercial metrics (e.g., CiteScore, h-index) does not measure genuine intellectual quality, but rather functions as a mechanism of bureaucratic surveillance and ideological gatekeeping. This system establishes an "epistemic monoculture" that systematically marginalizes alternative, non-linear, and indigenous knowledge paradigms of the Global South. Furthermore, we expose the "triple-pay" surplus-value extraction model, highlighting how state-funded research and voluntary academic labor are privatized to generate corporate capital, which is then sold back to public institutions. To secure national intellectual sovereignty, this paper offers strategic policy recommendations, including the systemic decoupling of academic rewards from corporate databases, the institutionalization of state-funded open-access infrastructures, and the integration of holistic paradigms such as the Eastern Yin-Yang philosophy to restore epistemological balance.