You’ve signed on to the Boycott, now what? A SPARC Guide for Campus Action

“Purpose ... In light of the recent, failed attempt to abridge access to scholarly articles via the Research Works Act (RWA), a growing number of researchers have expressed their frustration with the status quo in scholarly publishing, and are interested in learning about concrete actions that they can take to effect positive change. SPARC has prepared this resource for our members, to help you to engage your faculty and researchers, and talk with them about options for taking such action... Background ... The aim of the proposed bill was clear - in essence, the Research Works Act would repeal the 2008 law that mandated PubMed Central deposits for NIH-funded research... For decades, the scholarly journal publishing model has been defined by the free labor and intellectual property that authors, editors, and reviewers provide to publishers, while many commercial publishers, in turn, charge hefty subscription fees for scholars to be able to read their own work. The immediate and visceral negative reaction among the scholarly community to the RWA (and Elsevier’s front-and-center support of it) has been viewed by many as a tipping point. One tangible response among scholars has been the call for a boycott of Elsevier. The boycott, organized by academics, calls on colleagues to no longer author, edit, or referee for Elsevier journals. In this way, the boycott’s organizers argue, Elsevier will no longer be able to harvest the value of the scholarly community’s work. To date, thousands of active scholars have signed onto the boycott. Once they have signed the boycott pledge, many scholars find themselves asking ‘what do I do next?’ This document is intended to provide practical options for boycott signatories, as well as those who support the principles of the boycott. It enumerates a set of actionable activities that will can contribute towards remaking the scholarly communication ecosystem into a more efficient, more open, less costly environment... Next Steps...”