Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover • Hacker News Board

Re: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover

#11

Post by hack_edu » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 2:51 PM UTC

The state of academic publishing is in a truly dreadful state. The same monopolies that created the industry hundreds of years ago have never been pushed out and innovate in the slowest way possible, aqui-murdering even worse than EA when they have to. Online journals and the promise they provide are peddled by high pressure sales pitches who insist on absurdly high prices. For many institutions, when taking usage stats, the price of online access per user often works out to several dollars per search...

This is why I've given up trying to work in the field or found a company in the sector... Anyone with an idea and need a technical cofounder? ;)

Re: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover

#12

Post by Jun8 » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 2:59 PM UTC

Hah, this was exactly the reason I was hesitating to use Mendeley, although it's got great tools. Creating your paper database in such a system is a huge investment in time, it's hard and very frustrating to move between such systems.

AFAIK, the open source tools cannot much the maturity of Mendeley, am I wrong? In this age and time, how hard can it be to clone a service like that?

Re: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover

#13

Post by rurounijones » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 3:01 PM UTC

While I am not a researcher and have never used Mendeley et al I do know about Elsevier's reputation.

As mentioned in this blog it would seem the wisest thing would be to switch for the moment and keep an eye on mendeley.

Who knows, maybe they really will change Elsevier, I doubt it but you never know.

After all, given the backlash Elsevier know this is their ONE (long-haul) chance to redeem themselves. Screw this up and they are totally beyond hope (For those who might not think they already are)

Re: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover

#14

Post by glesica » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 3:05 PM UTC

1337biz wrote: post #4

I don't get it. It was absolutely clear that they were using a propiretory software owned by a for-profit company. There a perfectly viable alternatives, Open Source and free to use e.g. Zotero et al.

I have personally integrated Mendeley into my process as a student, despite the fact that I should have known better. Sometimes everyone gets distracted by shiny things, I guess. Shame on me.

Re: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover

#15

Post by denzil_correa » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 3:08 PM UTC

I am quite disappointed by this - the next target which hasn't been really picked up yet is Academia.edu though it's purpose is slightly different than Mendeley.

http://academia.edu/

Re: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover

#16

Post by cantankerous » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 3:08 PM UTC

It could be that Elsevier is pivoting into an open access model through its other efforts and buying up Mendeley. I won't hold my breath, though. The model, while evolving, could just morph into something else that sucks.

It's a real bummer. There's so much good stuff locked up in these publishing houses.

Re: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover

#17

Post by SoftwareMaven » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 3:14 PM UTC

cantankerous wrote: post #16

It could be that Elsevier is pivoting into an open access model through its other efforts and buying up Mendeley. I won't hold my breath, though. The model, while evolving, could just morph into something else that sucks. It's a real bummer. There's so much good stuff locked up in these publishing houses.

If Elsivier wants to change its business model, it will need to do it in a way that doesn't completely cannibalize its sales. Adding open research companies to its umbrella would be a way to do that.

However, more likely, it wants to be able to say, "See, we are committed to being open", and continue with its primarily closed practices.

Re: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover

#18

Post by twog » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 3:15 PM UTC

hack_edu wrote: post #11

The state of academic publishing is in a truly dreadful state. The same monopolies that created the industry hundreds of years ago have never been pushed out and innovate in the slowest way possible, aqui-murdering even worse than EA when they have to. Online journals and the promise they provide are peddled by high pressure sales pitches who insist on absurdly high prices. For many institutions, when taking usage st…

I am working on something that may be of interest. Drop me a line, my email is in my profile

Re: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover

#19

Post by bioinformatics » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 3:18 PM UTC

mjn wrote: post #9

1337biz wrote: post #4

I don't get it. It was absolutely clear that they were using a propiretory software owned by a for-profit company. There a perfectly viable alternatives, Open Source and free to use e.g. Zotero et al.

While true, it seemed like a fairly pro-openness company, which not only said the right things but seemed to have a lot of employees genuinely committed to improving the state of academic literature. But it does add another example of why we should be wary of even well-meaning for-profit companies, without some kind of more solid guarantee that they won't sell out in the future. For stuff like this, either a nonprofi…

The difference of Mendeley is that they had a good PR team, and composed of academic, "people like us". And they were everywhere, and this PR team banged on the note that Mendeley was going to be open and "grassroots" academic, because it was made by academics. Now, we know the real answer.

Re: Mendeley users revolt against Elsevier takeover

#20

Post by bmalee » Wed, Apr 10, 2013, 3:19 PM UTC

Pitarou wrote: post #10

bmalee wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly? It's a for-profit company, whose interests did you think was serving?

Yeah. My bad. I had a real need and Mendeley's software (which is awesome, by the way) came to my rescue; issues of who controls it and what they might want from me someday seemed very far away at the time.

This is how capitalism works. Companies (and individuals) try to maximise their own profits; and (ideally) the most profitable course of action is the one which is the most beneficial to the most people. Altruism has no place in it.

And yet, people are continually surprised and disappointed when a company takes a profitable course of action, rather than ignoring profits for altruistic reasons.