What Scholastica does

Scholastica, Inc. is a Chicago-based SaaS company that operates a web-based software platform for academic journal publishing management. Founded in 2012, the company serves more than 1,000 scholarly journals and over 700 law reviews with a modular product suite consisting of four core offerings: a Peer Review System for manuscript management and editorial workflows with task automation, integrated email, templates, and journal performance analytics; a Production Service that generates PDF, HTML, and full-text XML article files from a single source via digital-first typesetting with reference checks and proofing; an Open Access Publishing Platform that hosts fully-hosted journal websites with readership analytics and integrations to DOI, archiving, and indexing services; and a specialized Law Review System for law journal submission management with group submissions, expedite requests, and author-editor communication. An additional Institutional Accounts module enables universities to prepay or auto-bill faculty submission fees. Customer logos span university presses (UC Press, Hopkins Press, Penn Press), research universities (Georgetown Medical Center, Maynooth University Ireland, Bond University), professional associations (AAPOR, ACLP), and individual scholarly journals (Sociological Science, Observational Studies, RTI Press).

The company monetizes through two primary revenue streams: per-submission transaction fees of $7.35 for law reviews and $10 for non-law reviews, plus institutional subscriptions via the Institutional Accounts module with a $1,000 minimum prepurchase or monthly auto-billing. The go-to-market combines product-led growth (self-serve signup for individual authors and journals at app.scholasticahq.com) with an enterprise field sales motion for institutional accounts (universities, university presses, law schools) that can subsidize submission costs for affiliated faculty. Distribution is direct via the cloud-hosted SaaS platform with no disclosed reseller or partner channels.

The company operates with 11-50 employees and a single disclosed funding round of $510,000 in May 2014, suggesting a bootstrapped, self-funded operating model. The technology stack emphasizes ease of use, integration with academic infrastructure (DOI, Crossref, archiving services, academic indexes), and digital-first workflows that displace traditional typesetting and editorial management vendors. Marketing is conducted primarily through content (blog, eBooks, guides, webinars), community engagement (The Conversation platform), and organic social presence on X, Bluesky, and Mastodon.

Name

Scholastica

Legal name

Scholastica, Inc.

Website

https://scholasticahq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Scholastica is a Chicago-based SaaS platform serving academic journal publishers and law schools with modular peer review, production, and open access hosting tools, monetized via per-submission fees and institutional subscriptions across 1,000+ journals and 700+ law reviews.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Publishing Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Academic & Scholarly Journals Publishing (Peer-Reviewed) (MPAJABAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Education Research & Pedagogy Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAH), Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing (MPAJABAK)

Keywords

• Academic journal software
• Peer review management
• Open access publishing
• Law review submissions
• Scholarly publishing platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Per-submission fees: Authors pay per submission to journals. Law review submissions cost $7.35 each; non-law review submissions cost $10 each. Institutions can subsidize these fees through institutional accounts.
2. Institutional account management: Institutions can prepurchase funds (minimum $1,000) or use automatic invoicing to cover submission costs for their authors. This creates recurring institutional revenue through monthly billing or prepaid balances.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Scholastica is a cloud-hosted SaaS suite that helps small and medium scholarly publishers manage academic journal workflows end-to-end. Its modular products cover peer review and submission management, digital-first typesetting (PDF, HTML, XML), hosted Open Access journal publishing, and specialized law review submission handling, with an institutional billing layer that lets universities subsidize author submission fees.

Product overview

Scholastica offers a modular academic journal publishing software suite consisting of four core products: the Peer Review System for manuscript management and editorial workflows, the Production Service for digital typesetting (generating PDF, HTML, and XML article files), the OA Publishing Platform for hosting Open Access journals with discovery and analytics integrations, and the Law Review System for specialized law journal submission management. An additional Institutional Accounts module enables universities to sponsor author submission fees. The products can be used individually or integrated together to bridge gaps between editorial workflows, production, and publishing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Peer Review System

Quantifiable outcome

• Setup in days or weeks vs. months with traditional systems
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Atypon (Wiley): Atypon's Literatum platform is the leading full-stack scholarly publishing platform hosted by Wiley, serving thousands of journals and university presses. It is the most direct large-scale competitor to Scholastica's OA Publishing Platform, though it targets larger publishers and offers broader discovery and analytics.
• Silverchair: Silverchair provides a unified platform for scholarly publishers covering content hosting, peer review, and analytics, serving society publishers and university presses. It overlaps directly with Scholastica's Peer Review and OA Publishing offerings but is positioned for larger, more complex publisher needs.
• ScholarOne (Clarivate): ScholarOne Manuscripts is a peer review submission and workflow platform owned by Clarivate, widely used by major journal publishers and societies. It competes head-to-head with Scholastica's Peer Review System, particularly for larger society and commercial publishers.
• HighWire Press: HighWire (now part of MPS) hosts peer-reviewed scholarly journals and provides content and hosting infrastructure for many society and university press publishers. It competes with Scholastica at the OA hosting and discovery layer for mid-market publishers.
• Bepress (Elsevier): Berkeley Electronic Press, now part of Elsevier, provides scholarly publishing and repository solutions including Digital Commons for journals and institutional repositories. It overlaps with Scholastica's hosting and discovery offerings, especially in the academic library market.

Direct peers

• Aries Systems (Editorial Manager / ProduXion Manager): Editorial Manager by Aries Systems (Elsevier) is the dominant peer review and manuscript tracking system for scholarly journals worldwide. It directly competes with Scholastica's Peer Review System for the same journal editorial teams and offers deep workflow customization that Scholastica competes against on ease of use.
• Ubiquity Press: Ubiquity Press is an OA-focused publisher and platform provider for society and university press journals. It competes directly with Scholastica's OA Publishing Platform for open access journals seeking hosted infrastructure with indexing integrations.

Emerging players

• Open Journal Systems (PKP): Open Journal Systems is a free, open-source journal management and publishing platform developed by the Public Knowledge Project, widely adopted by smaller and OA-focused journals. It is a substitute rather than complement for cash-constrained journals that Scholastica otherwise targets.
• Janeway (Open Library of Humanities): Janeway is an open-source OA journal publishing platform developed by the Open Library of Humanities, designed for diamond OA and small academic publishers. It competes with Scholastica in the small-publisher OA hosting segment with a free, community-supported alternative.
• Peerus: Peerus provides peer review workflow tools for journals and conferences with an emphasis on reviewer discovery and matching. It is an emerging competitor focused on a narrower part of the peer review workflow that Scholastica covers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/scholasticahq
• Facebookfacebook.com/scholasticahq

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Scholastica