Is the human element disappearing from academic publishing?

My ongoing saga with the Translational Medicine section at Frontiers in Medicine continues.

I decided to ask them directly who is actually making the decisions behind the scenes: AI algorithms, administrative staff, or actual handling editors who are active scientists? I even looped in the Editor-in-Chief for clarity.

Surprisingly, the EiC responded—though the answer was classic corporate evasion, completely sidestepping the direct question.

It certainly feels like there is a bit of operational chaos going on behind the scenes at Frontiers right now. Let’s see if they continue the dialogue, but it definitely raises broader questions about transparency and editorial standards in modern open-access publishing.

Has anyone else experienced something similar recently?

#AcademicPublishing #PeerReview #FrontiersInMedicine #TranslationalMedicine #OpenAccess #ResearchIntegrity