Charles Goldsmith, Reed Elsevier Feels Resistance To Web Pricing, Wall Street Journal, January 19, 2004 (accessible only to subscribers, but also see this free online version). Goldsmith summarizes some of the protests against Elsevier prices and bundling policies, some of the recent cancellations, and the growing challenge from open-access journals. Excerpt: "[M]edia analysts are increasingly troubled by the threat that free online scientific research could pose to Reed's pricing power as ScienceDirect contracts come up for renewal. Reed's share price outperformed most media stocks in 2002 in large part on the strength of ScienceDirect; in 2003, Reed's share price fell more than 12%."
How does Elsevier respond to the protests against its inflexible and onerous bundling policies? Quoting Elsevier Science spokesman Eric Merkel-Sobotta: "It's like having a yearly magazine subscription, not liking the October issue and then saying, 'We want a refund."'
Posted by
Peter Suber at 1/19/2004 05:53:00 PM.
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.
