May 10, 2023 08:35:00

All Scientists on the Academic Board Resign as Academic Publisher Elsevier Refuses to Reduce Publication Fees

by

Actua Litté

Elsevier, a publisher of a global academic journal, refused to reduce the publication fee requested by the academic committee because the profit margin was too high, and all academic committee members resigned. Elsevier's profit margins surpass Google, Apple, and Amazon, and this move has been praised by scholars around the world as a rebellion against giants.

'Too greedy': mass walkout at global science journal over 'unethical' fees | Peer review and scientific publishing | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/07/too-greedy-mass-walkout-at-global-science-journal-over-unethical-fees

Elsevier collects fees from researchers who publish articles in its journals, under the name of 'publication fees'. For example, the academic journal ``

NeuroImage '', which leads research on neuroimaging, is an open-access journal that can be read for free, but authors of research papers pay about $ 3,450 (about 467,000 yen) for publication. The former editor described this as 'unethical' and claimed it had nothing to do with the costs involved.

``Elsevier is preying on academia, giving science little value and demanding huge profits,'' said Chris Chambers, one of the resigned scientists and a professor at Cardiff University. We called on scientists to ditch Elsevier journals and submit their papers to non-profit, open-access journals the team had set up instead.

Elsevier publishes 18% of the world's scientific papers, and revenue in 2022 increased by 10% from the previous year to 2.9 billion pounds (about 494 billion yen). Profit margins are as high as 40%, and this is the part that angers scientists.

``We are committed to promoting open access research,'' Elsevier explains, with regard to article publication fees, ``below the price of the closest equivalent journal in the field.''

On the other hand, academic journals and educational books are angry about the difference in price between printed (book version) and e-book version from university libraries. ``We are under constant attack from exploitative pricing models in both teaching and research,'' said Professor Chris Pressler of the University of Manchester Libraries.

As an example, the plant biology textbook was estimated at £ 75 (about 12,800 yen) for the book version, and £ 975 (about 166,000 yen) for the e-book version for 3 users. A textbook for trainees 'Learning to Read Mathematics in the Secondary School' by Routledge, which publishes academic journals of humanities and social sciences, books are 35.99 pounds (about 6130 yen), e-book version is 560 pounds for 1 user It seems that it was (about 95,300 yen).

'Some institutions can't afford these costs,' said Caroline Ball, a librarian at Derby University and part of

the Campaign to investigate the Library ebook market. says.