Open Access May Involve Hidden Costs for Journal Publishers, as Conflicts over Subscription Agreements Indicate | Pablo Markin | Open Science

"Elsevier’s hard line in negotiations with German and Swedish universities over journal access and publishing contracts can follow from the limited financial attractiveness of Gold Open Access in the long term. 

Since late July, 2018, Elsevier had cut off German university libraries that have failed to reach a satisfactory agreement with this publisher to its journal databases. Whereas a conglomerate of German scientific organizations and academic institutions has been unsuccessfully discussing with Elsevier the terms of its futures subscription contract since 2016, this situation could stem from several factors that give this publisher cold feet. These German universities and institutions have sought to replace individually negotiated journal subscription deals with Elsevier with a single, association-wide contract, in an effort to put pressure on their negotiations. However, from the publisher’s and libraries’ perspective, discretely concluded subscription deals could afford different profitability and cost levels for the parties involved, while providing organization-specific subscription solutions...."