My views about the academic journal racket are on record. Of all the profiteering outfits out there, the commercial publisher Elsevier is one of the worst offenders, for the following reasons:
- They charge exorbitantly high prices for their journals.
- They sell journals in very large “bundles,” so libraries must buy a large set with many unwanted journals, or none at all. Elsevier thus makes huge profits by exploiting their essential titles, at the expense of other journals.
- They support measures such as SOPA, PIPA and the Research Works Act, that aim to restrict the free exchange of information.
I believe the business practices of Elsevier are detrimental to the open exchange of information on which scientific progress depends, so I have added my name to the list here of academics who refuse to publish in, referee for, or do editorial work on behalf of any Elsevier journal. If you wish to add your name to the list you can do so here.
A list of journals published by Elsevier can be found here.
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