Editorial hunger refers to the pressure or tendency of academic journals—especially those with frequent publication cycles or commercial incentives—to publish a high volume of content, even when the scientific value is marginal or questionable. It reflects a quantity-over-quality approach that may dilute academic rigor.
🧠 Key Features of Editorial Hunger: Acceptance of low-yield or redundant papers to fill page quotas
Expansion of “case report”, “technical note”, or “image” sections for easy content
Tolerating vague, unoriginal, or non-reproducible studies
Lowering peer-review standards for speed or output
Publishing “novelty” with no long-term impact
⚠️ Especially prevalent in open-access journals with author-pays models, but also seen in reputation-seeking journals needing regular indexing or citation volume.