Elsevier and German Academics At Odds
August 13, 2018
A post shared by the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) reports, “DEAL and Elsevier Negotiations: Elsevier Demands Unacceptable for the Academic Community.” The DEAL project has been an effort to enact licensing agreements between Elsevier and institutions throughout Germany for all e-journals put out by major academic publishers in 2017. The HRK is an association of German universities, so its members are vested in the outcome here. However, once again it looks as though Elsevier is not playing nice, demanding concessions that would defeat the original purpose. DEAL’s spokesperson Horst Hippler stated:
“As far as we’re concerned, the aim of the ongoing negotiations with the three biggest academic publishers is to develop a future-oriented model for the publishing and reading of scientific literature. What we want is to bring an end to the pricing trend for academic journals that has the potential to prove disastrous for libraries as it stands. We are also working to promote open access, with a view to essentially making the results of publicly funded research freely accessible. The publishers should play a crucial role in achieving this. We have our sights set on a sustainable publish and read model, which means fair payment for publication and unrestricted availability for readers afterwards. Elsevier, however, is still not willing to offer a deal in the form of a nationwide agreement in Germany that responds to the needs of the academic community in line with the principles of open access and that is financially sustainable.”
This disappointing result follows months of negotiations. Academics have been making their displeasure with Elsevier known, with about 200 scientific institutions purposely letting their licensing agreements expire and several prominent researchers resigning their Elsevier-related editorships. Now DEAL is playing defense, taking “necessary precautions” should Elsevier cut access to those organizations that let their licenses lapse. What those precautions entail is not specified.
Cynthia Murrell, August 13, 2018
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