I agree. However, if the article covering the research can only be accessed by paying Elsevier, that means Elsevier gets a cut every time someone wants to know something about that research. Essentially, Elsevier becomes owner of the intellectual property describing the research. I suspect that’s what Cory had in mind.
I haven’t forgotten having to request permission to reproduce, in a second article, a figure I had created for my first article on the subject! To hell with that; I just redid them.
which you have to pay Elsevier for.
Speaking of copyright, as a federal employee, I was able to state that I couldn’t transfer copyright to the journal because everything published as part of federal government work has to be in the public domain. I did this for years, but I think the publishers finally got wise. They started specifically said it was for the US only! They owned the copyright in the rest of the world! Now, how is that supposed to work? Can I put it on my website, but just say if you don’t live in the US, don’t touch? Phooey.
Yes, most of the people involved in peer review and academic publishing need to be paid a salary, but not by the publisher. There are plenty of open-access peer-reviewed journals that are highly respected in their fields, and are run entirely by scholars. Nobody pays for their their article to get published, and nobody is directly paid to write, review, or edit. I know because I read, write, and review for some of these journals. Publishing companies are becoming increasingly irrelevant, at least in those fields where academics are organized and technically savvy enough to self-publish.
I’d call that pretty accurate but here’s my take on the latter part from a library’s perspective:
Charge stores for the right to distribute vegetables.
Offer “package deals” that cap the rate of inflation* at a low percentage.
Increase the price of anything not covered in the package deals 10-30% every single year.
Stick vegetables that the store did not ask for and that don’t sell in the “package deal”. Call these an exception and raise the price of these vegetables 10-30% every year.
Charge stores for some vegetables that aren’t delivered. Underfund customer service so when stores ask “Where are these vegetables?” there’s no one to answer.
*Since Elsevier sets the prices they also determine the rate of inflation.
Elsevier also used to include pricing non-disclosure clauses in their contracts so libraries couldn’t compare deals. In 2010 the University of Indiana announced it would no longer honor these clauses and would make the details of their Elsevier deals public, but I don’t know how much comparing libraries do even now.
DEAL was initiated by the Allianz der Wissenschaftsorganisation (alliance of scientific organisations), a group consisting of a few German public research organisations. members include the four large science institutions (Max Planck, Leibniz, Helmholtz, Fraunhofer), thus it’s quite easy to reach 60 institutions if all facilities are counted. with the DFG is the most important research funding org a member, decisions of the DFG have impact everywhere in the German science community
This year Leopoldina is in charge of the Allianz der Wissenschaftsorganisation, all member orgs are listed on the homepage (the box on the right titled “Mitglieder der Allianz”)
Half right, at least in the US since the 1976 copyright act. Certainly copyright does NOT apply to the underlying research, under doctrine of the “idea/expression divide.” The underlying research would be considered “facts” and not subject to copyright protection. But copyright applies when the work is first written down. (“fixation” in copyright terms) Publication and registration has some bearing on the ability to sue and damages, but not on whether a work is covered by copyright.
This is a different issue and a different negotiation. They are, however, closely related in that their outcomes will shape the future of the politics of education.
