Taxacom: Science journal unethical fees resignations

[Michael Wilson]

This article also gives some of the background to the profits of scientific
publication

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Mike Wilson
National Museum of Wales

On Sun, May 21, 2023 at 5:12?PM John Grehan via Taxacom <
taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> Nothing new about the publishing situation, but interesting development.
> Cynical part of me wonders if anything will really ever change. The world
> is run by rats. Excerpt below from 'The Guardian'. Rest at
>
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2023%2Fmay%2F07%2Ftoo-greedy-mass-walkout-at-global-science-journal-over-unethical-fees&data%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C893973533f724a1b747b08db5a96b7c1%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638203375619266331%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdataú5GMqPDDeaQRh5gsSwxDadzvQ0XrXbCEWuQWtyEl7s%3D&reserved=0
>
> More than 40 leading scientists have resigned en masse from the editorial
> board of a top science journal in protest at what they describe as the
> ?greed? of publishing giant Elsevier.
>
> The entire academic board of the journal Neuroimage, including professors
> from Oxford University, King?s College London and Cardiff University
> resigned after Elsevier refused to reduce publication charges.
>
> Academics around the world have applauded what many hope is the start of a
> rebellion against the huge profit margins in academic publishing, which
> outstrip those made by Apple, Google and Amazon.
>
> Neuroimage, the leading publication globally for brain-imaging research, is
> one of many journals that are now ?open access? rather than sitting behind
> a subscription paywall. But its charges to authors reflect its prestige,
> and academics now pay over ?2,700 for a research paper to be published. The
> former editors say this is ?unethical? and bears no relation to the costs
> involved.
>
> Professor Chris Chambers, head of brain stimulation at Cardiff University
> and one of the resigning team, said: ?Elsevier preys on the academic
> community, claiming huge profits while adding little value to science.?
>
> He has urged fellow scientists to turn their backs on the Elsevier journal
> and submit papers to a nonprofit open-access journal which the team is
> setting up instead.
>
> He told the Observer: ?All Elsevier cares about is money and this will cost
> them a lot of money. They just got too greedy. The academic community can
> withdraw our consent to be exploited at any time. That time is now.?
>
> Elsevier, a Dutch company that claims to publish 18% of the world?s
> scientific papers, reported a 10% increase in its revenue to ?2.9bn last
> year. But it?s the profit margins, nearing 40%, according to its 2019
> accounts, which anger academics most. The big scientific publishers keep
> costs low because academics write up their research ? typically funded by
> charities and the public purse ? for free. They ?peer review? each other?s
> work to verify it is worth publishing for free, and academic editors
> collate it for free or for a small stipend. Academics are then often
> charged thousands of pounds to have their work published in open-access
> journals, or universities will pay very high subscription charges.
>
>
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