Transformation of academic publishing and environment under the influence of generative artificial intelligence tools and actors
Zdeněk Smutný (Prague University of Economics and Business, CZ; University of Ljubljana, SI)
The tools and agents of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) are reshaping the information society and building a new relationship between humans and technology. In tertiary education, we are moving towards personalized learning using artificial agents, which will initially supplement direct teacher teaching and later largely replace it (Karpouzis et al., 2024; Guettala et al., 2024). Another promising area with great potential is internet hospitals (Zhang et al., 2024), which already provide basic online medical consultations, electronic prescriptions, drug delivery, or pre-diagnostic triage of patients thanks to artificial intelligence-based technologies, thereby enhancing the availability of medical care and facilitating administration for doctors. At the same time, informed scenario estimates are also emerging about possible alternatives for the development of our society against the background of building a new relationship and connection between humans and artificial agents (Kokotajlo et al., 2025). However, in this contribution, we will not be too speculative. We will stick to the current state and trends that can be observed in the world and especially in the academic community.
This article aims to present how GenAI tools, on the one hand, help academics and researchers in preparing publications, but also how they reshape the established order and approaches to academic publishing on the other. Using selected examples, we will first present how GenAI tools support and change the work of researchers in the context of international academic publishing and dissemination of scientific outputs. We will also present negative consequences, such as the generated scholarly publications, including book monographs, which further accelerate the publication of new texts. All this is against the background of unfair practices of some academics and researchers, such as the currently often-mentioned research paper mills and the often associated direct or indirect buying of author positions in scholarly publications. These unfair practices have led to, and will continue to lead to, massive retractions of already published articles (Van Noorden, 2023; Lendvai & Sasvári, 2025). At the end of the contribution, we will focus on discussing the impacts of these changes on tertiary education, academic publishing, and research.
Zdeněk Smutný is an Associate Professor at the Prague University of Economics and Business and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Ljubljana. His current academic focus includes social informatics, intelligent transportation systems, and advancements in informatics methodology. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Acta Informatica Pragensia.
Zdeněk Smutný (Prague University of Economics and Business, CZ; University of Ljubljana, SI)
The tools and agents of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) are reshaping the information society and building a new relationship between humans and technology. In tertiary education, we are moving towards personalized learning using artificial agents, which will initially supplement direct teacher teaching and later largely replace it (Karpouzis et al., 2024; Guettala et al., 2024). Another promising area with great potential is internet hospitals (Zhang et al., 2024), which already provide basic online medical consultations, electronic prescriptions, drug delivery, or pre-diagnostic triage of patients thanks to artificial intelligence-based technologies, thereby enhancing the availability of medical care and facilitating administration for doctors. At the same time, informed scenario estimates are also emerging about possible alternatives for the development of our society against the background of building a new relationship and connection between humans and artificial agents (Kokotajlo et al., 2025). However, in this contribution, we will not be too speculative. We will stick to the current state and trends that can be observed in the world and especially in the academic community.
This article aims to present how GenAI tools, on the one hand, help academics and researchers in preparing publications, but also how they reshape the established order and approaches to academic publishing on the other. Using selected examples, we will first present how GenAI tools support and change the work of researchers in the context of international academic publishing and dissemination of scientific outputs. We will also present negative consequences, such as the generated scholarly publications, including book monographs, which further accelerate the publication of new texts. All this is against the background of unfair practices of some academics and researchers, such as the currently often-mentioned research paper mills and the often associated direct or indirect buying of author positions in scholarly publications. These unfair practices have led to, and will continue to lead to, massive retractions of already published articles (Van Noorden, 2023; Lendvai & Sasvári, 2025). At the end of the contribution, we will focus on discussing the impacts of these changes on tertiary education, academic publishing, and research.
Zdeněk Smutný is an Associate Professor at the Prague University of Economics and Business and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Ljubljana. His current academic focus includes social informatics, intelligent transportation systems, and advancements in informatics methodology. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Acta Informatica Pragensia.
