University of California boycotts Elsevier | The Bookseller

"In a major stand-off, the University of California has decided not to renew its journal subscriptions with scholarly publisher Elsevier this year, following months of contracts negotiations.

The University of California System accounts for almost 10% of the research output of the United States across 10 campuses, it is reported to have paid over $10m last year to Elsevier in journal subscription fees.

The university said it was taking "a firm stand" on the matter because Elsevier was "unwilling to meet UC’s key goal: securing universal open access to UC research while containing the rapidly escalating costs associated with for-profit journals."

Under Elsevier's proposed terms for making UC research immediately available open access to the reader, the publisher would have charged UC authors "large publishing fees on top of the university’s multi-million dollar subscription, resulting in much greater cost to the university and much higher profits for Elsevier", the university's statement said. UC said: "Elsevier was unwilling to meet UC’s reasonable contract terms, which would integrate subscription charges and open access publishing fees, making open access the default for any article by a UC scholar and stabilizing journal costs for the university."

“Knowledge should not be accessible only to those who can pay,” said Robert May, chair of UC’s faculty Academic Senate. “The quest for full open access is essential if we are to truly uphold the mission of this university.”

Elsevier has published around 18% of journal articles produced by the UC faculty...."