In 2019, Eisen was named the second editor-in-chief of the open-access scientific journal
eLife. In 2020, in response to a
Twitter question, Eisen joked that the roundworm
C. elegans was the most over-hyped animal because "they wiggle forward. They wiggle backwards. And occasionally they fuck themselves. That’s it". Some researchers were not amused by the joke, and the
eLife board asked Eisen to watch his language on Twitter. Also in 2020, Eisen was involved in the story surrounding the death from SARS-CoV-2 of an anonymous queer Hopi female professor with whom he had interacted on Twitter. The account turned out to be a hoax created and run by neuroscientist
BethAnn McLaughlin, who founded MeTooSTEM. Eisen was one of three people to attend a
Zoom memorial for the fictional individual. In 2023, under his leadership, the journal moved away from the traditional "
review, then publish" model, instead requiring authors to submit
preprints and then publishing journal editors'
reviews alongside manuscripts, meaning that the journal neither accepted nor rejected submissions. Eisen said that the move was intended to reduce the prominence of the publisher, and instead focus attention on authors and their work. This move provoked both enthusiastic praise from some, including some
eLife editors, and a strong backlash from others inside the organization, including some senior editors and editors. A news article in the journal Nature described the “Strife at eLife”. At least one of five deputy editors resigned. In a private letter to Eisen in January 2023, 30 editors threatened to resign once the changes were fully implemented. In March 2023, 29
eLife editors, including founding editor-in-chief and Nobel Prize winner
Randy Schekman, urged that Eisen should be replaced immediately in a letter to the executive editor of the journal’s publisher. Eisen dismissed this in an interview as “powerful scientists not wanting to change a system that has benefited them”. Eisen tweeted on March 12, 2023, that academics were "lobbying hard to get me fired", a post that was subsequently deleted. He later described his relationship with the board as “somewhat testy” and that some “had it in for me”. The post prompted some criticism, including from Israeli researchers who asked colleagues to avoid publishing in
eLife as long as he was editor. The chair of
eLife’s board asked Eisen to delete his Twitter post, but he refused to do so "because that would be capitulating to what I thought was a really misdirected effort to silence any expression of support of Palestinians". On October 23, 2023, Eisen was fired by
eLife. In response to the firing, at least five of
eLife's editors resigned and other scientists said they would stop participating in
eLife events in solidarity with Eisen. A petition letter was organised to protest against Eisen’s firing. The petition, which was signed by over 2,000 scientists, academics and researchers, said
eLife's action is having a "chilling effect" on freedom of expression in academia.
eLife released a statement saying "Mike has been given clear feedback from the board that his approach to leadership, communication and social media has at key times been detrimental to the cohesion of the community we are trying to build and hence to
eLife’s mission. It is against this background that a further incidence of this behaviour has contributed to the board’s decision". In
eLife’s 2023 annual report, the Chair of the Board of Directors said: “In October, we parted ways with our Editor-in-Chief, Michael Eisen, and want to acknowledge the extraordinary vision and leadership he provided to eLife, which is allowing us to build on his legacy as we grow our publishing model.” On November 10, 2023, in response to a tweet saying “How to make faculty meeting more exciting? Wrong answers only.”, Eisen tweeted “Sit me next to Randy Schekman.”, indicating an ongoing personal conflict with the preceding
editor-in-chief. ==Open access advocacy==