Elsevier buys Mendeley. What’s next? : Open Access Now

"Earlier this week, Tech Crunch confirmed that Elsevier acquired Mendeley for between $69M and $100M.  Given the generally positive feelings many academics and OA advocates have for Mendeley and their perhaps not-so-positive feelings towards Elsevier, this acquisition has caused a great deal of unease. Academics are raising the perhaps legitimate concern that Mendeley is on the verge of transforming into something a bit more closed and restrictive. The Mendeley team insists that the acquisition will allow them to use Elsevier’s resources to enhance research and development and retain its freemium pricing model. And, just in case users still have concerns—they get more free stuff (double the storage space) out of the deal! Though we are unlikely to understand the full impact of this acquisition for months or perhaps years, Martin Fenner notes that it is an indication that: 'publishers have realized that we are moving into an Open Access publishing model, which in contrast to subscription publishing is not about owning the content, but about providing valuable services around content that is free to read and reuse.'  This could very well be a good thing, however, the acquisition is not without risks. As Kent Anderson suggests, Mendeley, may now become more vulnerable to the developing court perspectives on the transfer of born-digital property. From the perspective of the Mendeley team, the acquisition is welcome news. However, others have reservations about the possible Mendeley’s ability to persist as a largely free and open collaborative tool. Only time will tell whether or not these reservations come to pass. Until that time, though, we’ll certainly have plenty to read about. Read more about the acquisition here