Question: What is Elsevier’s value proposition? Could that be replicated by on open source offering?
It already is: arxiv.org.
I wish arxiv.org would have a big "Booooo" banner for papers without code.
MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing Elsevier contract
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Re: MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing Elsevier contract
#12Question: What is Elsevier’s value proposition? Could that be replicated by on open source offering?
Network effect. "Everyone" subscribed to Elsevier, so if you wanted your papers to get visibility and citations, you tried to get it published in their journals.
They are a relic of a bygone era. They made sense when journals were physical publications in the library. Elsevier was the one-stop-shop for all of the major academic journals. But with the internet, they make less sense and kept their position through inertia and rent seeking behavior.
Re: MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing Elsevier contract
#13Why not adopt the law school approach? Let the grad students publish the journals.
Re: MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing Elsevier contract
#14Re: MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing Elsevier contract
#15What library are the researchers getting their access through now? Are they saying the MIT library bought digital copies of all those publications?
They are using a service called Article Galaxy, which is just a proxy that pays for per-article access when individual users request it. MIT Libraries get the bill from Article Galaxy. The article states that MIT pays $300,000 annually for individual request fees, far less than the prior contract amount.
>They are using a service called Article Galaxy, which is just a proxy that pays for per-article access when individual users request it. MIT Libraries get the bill from Article Galaxy.
I'm surprised services like these haven't been shut down yet. IANAL, but what they're doing (ie. acting as a proxy between end-users and the publishers) seems similar to what Aereo was doing[1], which the supreme court ruled was copyright infringement.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Broadcasting_Cos.,_In....
Re: MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing Elsevier contract
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
It already is: arxiv.org.
I wish arxiv.org would have a big "Booooo" banner for papers without code.
I don't think it's always necessary if the paper makes it really clear how things were done. And just because the code is available, it doesn't mean that it is actually reproducible or comprehensible.
Re: MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing Elsevier contract
#17What library are the researchers getting their access through now? Are they saying the MIT library bought digital copies of all those publications?
z library
Re: MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing Elsevier contract
#18These journals are like parasites onto the scientific enterprise and ultimately tax payers dollars.
Re: MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing Elsevier contract
#19> MIT presented its principles to the publisher’s representatives as the basis for new contract negotiations.
This is an incredibly important and powerful strategy, as a customer or a vendor. When everything is negotiable, trouble follows. The instant gratification of a "win" doesn't help move an organization forward. Having and sticking to principles does, with practical benefits. Trust grows and culture improves. Consistency (in contracts, features, information, behavior) builds.
Re: MIT leaders describe the experience of not renewing Elsevier contract
#20Aaron Swartz would have liked some of those principles. This is a small, "better late than never" step for most of us, but for Aaron...it's more like "too little, too late."
Surely MIT made this move at least partially due to Aaron's legacy. I hope and believe he'd be happy to see this.