Elsevier: An Open Source Flag Carrier?
July 17, 2018
According to this article at the Guardian, the European Union is to be applauded for its goal of open access to all scientific publications by 2020. However, writer and Open Science advocate Jon Tennant condemns one key decision in, “Elsevier Are Corrupting Open Science in Europe.” He tells us:
“However, a cursory glance at the methodological note reveals something rather odd. The subcontractor for the monitor is Elsevier, the publisher and data analytics provider. Within scholarly communications, Elsevier has perhaps the single worst reputation. With profit margins around 37%, larger than Apple and big oil companies, Elsevier dominate the publishing landscape by selling research back to the same institutes that carried out the work. It gets worse too. Throughout the methods, you can see that there is an overwhelming bias towards Elsevier products and services, such as Scopus, Mendeley, and Plum Analytics. These services provide metrics for researchers such as citation counts and social media shares, as well as data-sharing and networking platforms. There are now dozens of comments in the note pointing out the clear bias towards Elsevier and the overlooking of alternatives. It is worth highlighting some of the key issues here that the Commission seems to have ignored in subcontracting to Elsevier.”
One such issue is Elsevier’s alleged track record of working against openness in order to protect its own financial interests. Also, many throughout the EU, including prominent research institutes, have turned against the publisher in distrust. Last but not least, naming an entity that stands to benefit as the Open Science Monitor is an obvious conflict of interest, Tennant declares with understandable incredulity. See the article for details on each of these points. The author is clearly aghast the appointment was allowed in the first place, and recommends the European Commission remove Elsevier from the position posthaste.
Worth watching via open source information, of course.
Cynthia Murrell, July 17, 2018
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2 Responses to “Elsevier: An Open Source Flag Carrier?”
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Hi Cynthia, thank you for writing about this! Here’s the latest on this story, there have been a couple of strange responses from the consortium and Elsevier.. http://fossilsandshit.com/response-to-president-paul-hofheinz-of-the-lisbon-council-regarding-elsevier-and-the-open-science-monitor/
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