Press release: Elsevier boycott: Academic spring in Germany slightly rainy

“Right now scientists from around the world are boycotting the Elsevier publishing house. The dominant magazine publisher stands accused of monopolizing scientific content by only making it accessible to the public for astronomical subscription prices. In contrast to this, the Open Access idea holds that all publicly financed research findings should be made accessible for free. In early May, the ZBW held a survey regarding the current Elsevier boycott and the subject of Open Access which found that the established system of expensive subscription magazines is indeed unpopular, but is largely upheld because of a shortage of alternatives. By now the boycott appeal against Elsevier has been signed by more than 11,500 scientists worldwide... The ZBW – German National Library for Economics – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics has asked scientists from all over Germany as to their position towards the Elsevier boycott (for more information visit:www.thecostofknowledge.com) and their opinion towards the Open Access movement. All in all, 813 economists participated in the survey. 8 per cent of those questioned signed the Elsevier boycott. 39 per cent of the scientists deliberately decided against participating in the protest. A further 8 per cent were neither informed nor interested. The lion’s share of those questioned, 46 per cent, had not heard about the Elsevier boycott before the start of the survey on 2 May 2012, but consider to participate. On the subject of Open Access, 73 per cent of the participants stated that they essentially support the idea but due to the lack of alternatives mainly publish their work in classical subscription magazines because of their greater reputation and better ranking. Only 6 per cent of the participants already publish their work in Open Access journals. Another 6 per cent of scientists do not think that the Open Access idea is sustainable and will continue to publish their future work in classical subscription journals. Nearly 16 per cent do at least sympathize with the Open Access movement and are interested in alternative publication models. 46 per cent of the scientists participating in the survey work in institutes for economics, another 39 per cent in institutes for business studies and 15 per cent in other fields of economical expertise. The interviewees were either professors (34 per cent) or academic staff (63 per cent). Young researchers indicated that they are reluctant to join the boycott for fear of the negative impact on their further career. One of the participants stated: ‘Boycott is only an option for tenured professors. A young scholar would criminally endanger his personal future if he did not publish in the magazines of Elsevier, some of which enjoy a very high reputation.’”