Why Should Taxpayer-Funded Research Be Put Behind a Paywall? - Pacific Standard

"Further, the "read and publish" model, used as a stopgap, has its critics. Roger Schonfeld, director of libraries, scholarly communication, and museums for Ithaka S+R, an educational-access consulting service, worries that problems arise with universities paying publishers one negotiated bundled fee that swallows article-processing charges. First, authors lose access to price transparency, and have no idea what the charge folded into the subscription cost was. Second, publishers could end up actually charging more than universities currently pay, which UC conceded was possible. And third, what open-access visionaries interpret as a temporary measure on the road to open access could easily become a permanent solution. Schonfeld writes, "To those European librarians who might say that their ['read and publish'] deals are merely transitional, I would note that publishers are taking these models seriously as the future of their business."...

Either way, the ultimate impact of UC's split with Elsevier will depend on how other large university systems react. Early indications suggest that they are emboldened. Lorraine Haricombe, vice provost and director of libraries at the University of Texas–Austin, says that the UC move "came as a very, very pleasant surprise that has gotten the attention of our faculty on the Austin campus." The UT system pays $50 million for a five-year contract with Elsevier. Reflecting on how the UC decision resonates at UT, Haricombe says, "we are all standing up a little bit straighter because of what they did." "