Four first-rate liberal arts colleges in Minnesota (Carleton, Gustavus Adolphus, Macalester, and St. Olaf) have separately refused three-year renewals of ScienceDirect. Their decisions were independent, but they issued a joint press release. Excerpt: "While the reasons and decision processes were somewhat different on each campus, we are all convinced that the escalating prices for many scientific journals are unsustainable and that the time has come for change....Our faculties are aware that this decision will result in a painful reduction in a overall journal access in the short term. But they are supporting us because they understand that it is in the long term interests of our institutions to reassert control over our collections and to encourage new, more sustainable publishing models....Open access journals are a clear alternative to the unsustainable bundling of journals, which prohibits cancellations and which consistently increase at rates of 5-8% per year. We are working with other colleges and universities to address this crisis by supporting the work of SPARC, Public Library of Science, and other groups that seek to increase broad and cost-effective access to peer reviewed scholarship. In declining the Science Direct offer we are joining an increasing number of institutions signaling that we are serious in our demands for reasonable pricing for scholarly communication." The press release closes with five strong recommendations for the four campuses to consider:
"avoiding publishing and reviewing for journals that are not moving towards an open access model,
retaining the right to distribute the results of their research broadly,
establishing institutional archives,
engaging in conversation about open access within departments, campus-wide, with legislators and policy-makers, and in their scholarly and scientific societies, and
adopting policies that signal that publication in quality open access journals is acceptable in the institutions' system of rewards and recognition".
(PS: See my list of other college and university actions against high journal prices, most accompanied by similar public statements.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/13/2004 03:35:00 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.
