Democratising Knowledge: a report on the scholarly publisher, Elsevier
peter.suber's bookmarks 2019-08-21
Summary:
"This report discusses Elsevier’s business practices in detail, provides a number of national resistance case studies, and finishes with a series of key recommendations for stakeholders engaged in scholarly communication. There is an incredible amount of scope for education unions to become engaged in aspects such as:
• Increasing attention and support of basic academic freedoms in scholarly
publishing, which Elsevier currently constrain in numerous ways;
• Retention of intellectual property rights for researchers, which Elsevier
otherwise acquire through unconventional copyright acquisition tactics;
• Fighting against the business strategies of Elsevier as a commercial publisher, especially regarding Open Access;
• Diverting public funds into high profit margins (36%+) for Elsevier during a time of decreasing research and library budgets;
• Challenging the democratic deficit and lack of transparency in Elsevier’s business practices, including their political influence;
• Forming and strengthening coalitions for negotiating against Elsevier, including supporting ongoing boycotts;
• Helping to provide more sustainable alternatives for researchers,
research institutes, and the future of scholarly communication. ..."