On Friday, the European Commission gave "conditional clearance" to the Candover and Cinden purchase of BertelsmannSpringer and its merger with Kluwer Academic Publishers. The EC's press release mentions two objections to the acquisition. First, it would create a monopoly in French medical publishing. C&C met this objection by divesting BertelsmannSpringer's French subsidiary, Groupe Impact Médicine. Second, the journal market prevents true competition. There are many "must have" journals and "[u]niversities depend on the information provided in such journals and cannot afford to cancel subscriptions without loosing [sic] access to the most recent issues discussed in the academic community. A further feature of the market are considerable annual price rises for more than a decade." However, the EC dismissed this objection in light of "the heterogeneity of journals and books published in different scientific disciplines and the heterogeneous nature of these books and journals even if published within a discipline". News coverage. (PS: The U.S. Justice Department has still not ruled on the acquisition and merger.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 8/03/2003 09:47:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
