UC Libraries, Nature Publishing Group in Heated Dispute Over Pricing; Boycott Possible

"In a pointed exchange, library directors and faculty leaders at the University of California (UC) and executives at the Nature Publishing Group (NPG) are trading charges about NPG's proposed increase in license fees, the tenor of negotiations, and whether UC has long been getting a sweet deal. UC threatens a possible systemwide boycott of NPG if the current licensing deal is not maintained. In 2003, that tactic helped lead to a settlement of a new bundled deal with Elsevier....Today, there are more scholarly repositories and open access journals to serve as alternative outlets, but major publishers like NPG are still seen as crucially prestigious...."