UC libraries, faculty protest planned price hike by Nature publisher

"The fee hike has incensed some UC faculty, headed by Professor and Executive Vice Dean Keith Yamamoto of UC San Francisco, to such a degree that they are now organizing a possible systemwide boycott of NPG, calling on all UC faculty to stop submitting papers to NPG journals, as well as to cease reviewing manuscripts for them and serving on editorial and advisory boards. Both the UCLA and systemwide Academic Senate faculty committees on Library and Scholarly Communication have indicated they would support such a boycott even though there would be serious ramifications, especially to young faculty who are trying to publish and get tenure....“If it comes to canceling subscriptions, we’re all going to face a major task in trying to mitigate these effects,” said Professor of Classics Shane Butler, chair of the UCLA Academic Senate Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication. “It’s wonderful to say, ‘There are principles at risk here. Let’s boycott.’” But for junior faculty who are trying to publish, he added, “they face a difficult choice.” But the young scientists Butler said he has spoken with “are almost to a person gung-ho for moving forward with the boycott.” The issue is so significant to the future of science and scholarship that they are willing to support a boycott. “So there’s a groundswell of indignation among faculty about this,” he said...."