Comparing numbers makes things look more real and proportionate: Elsevier vs Greece | Ouvertures immédiates

"Elsevier has published its annual business report. Heather Morrison’s summary: « Before adjusting for currency, Elsevier is reporting a 4% decrease in revenue for Scientific, Technical and Medicine and a 3% decrease in profit. The numbers are a 2,048 GBP revenue, 762 GBP adjusted operating profit, for a 37% profit rate (down from 39% last year). Elsevier is counting both revenue and profit as a slight increase after adjusting for currency ». I am often told that researchers do not realize how unjustly expensive their own work is predated upon, legally and with their full consent. I even read lately that we should « stop bothering academics and publishers about a library-made problem » (Thomas Krichel, here). I am not a librarian. I don’t consider this outrageous profit a library-made problem. It is everyone’s problem and specifically all researchers’ problem. Circumstances put things sometimes in a better perspective, just by chance. Isn’t it amazing to compare Elsevier’s 1.07 billion € profit built upon worldwide research fundings (a 37% benefit margin out of a 2.88 billion € revenue) with Greece’s  1.4 billion € national unpaid debt to the IMF ? What on earth are we talking about ? ..."