4 ms·

Elsevier is a criminal enterprise, nothing more, nothing less...

rreichman 8y ago
We gotta stop enabling them. If we demand that publicly funded universities adopt open access Elsevier will be gone in a few years. And of course I'm not recommending Sci-Hub because it's illegal but worth mentioning it...
- damontal 8y ago
  How will Elsevier be gone if it controls so much of the content used in citations?
  - rreichman 8y ago
    Over time I believe more content will be published in open access journals. In Machine Learning this is already quite common and it's amazing.
- dagw 8y ago
  If we demand that publicly funded universities adopt open access Elsevier will be gone in a few years. Elsevier will happily publish your papers as open access (for a small service fee).
- Vinnl 8y ago
  Unfortunately, funders don't want to restrict where researchers can publish the work (in order to prevent themselves from being able to silence results they might not like, i.e. hinder "academic freedom"). This means that this demand is implemented by simply paying hugely disproportionate publishing fees ("article processing charges") to the same old journals to make the individual articles they funded available as open access.
ademup 8y ago
I would appreciate an explanation of this assertion. What makes them criminal?
- mirimir 8y ago
  As far as I know, they're not breaking any laws, so they're not criminals. Basically, over the years, they acquired a bunch of academic publishers that were effectively not-for-profit. And since, they've been raising prices. Harvesting market position. Sure, that's not illegal. But it's arguably immoral.
- aurizon 8y ago
  Well, not criminal, nor is Disney, but people who bribe law makers to extend copyright to defeat the purpose of copyright seem criminal to me. Remember, copyright was made to give authors a period of monopoly, then open source. What if Microsoft bribed law makers to extend patents for 100 years? or drug makers?
creddit 8y ago
Extreme hyperbole like this rarely helps your case. Please try to elevate your discussion. Elsevier is a significant drain on public benefit relative to free/open journals but that doesn't make them criminal.
- belorn 8y ago
  Research that is funded by the public for the public is being put in the hand of for-profit organizations like Elsevier and then held private unless someone pays. Its not criminal but it is also more than just a drain on public benefit relative to free/open journals. Its like if we paid taxes to build and maintain roads and bridges, only to have the constructor give the rights of the finished result to a toll-both company in order so they could evaluate and rate how good the individual construction workers are and make it easier to promote and hire them in the future. It make no sense for any practical profession to behave like this, and yet thats how academia has operated for ages. It is time that the public get what it paid for.

We gotta stop enabling them. If we demand that publicly funded universities adopt open access Elsevier will be gone in a few years. And of course I'm not recommending Sci-Hub because it's illegal but worth mentioning it...

damontal 8y ago
How will Elsevier be gone if it controls so much of the content used in citations?
- rreichman 8y ago
  Over time I believe more content will be published in open access journals. In Machine Learning this is already quite common and it's amazing.
dagw 8y ago
If we demand that publicly funded universities adopt open access Elsevier will be gone in a few years. Elsevier will happily publish your papers as open access (for a small service fee).
Vinnl 8y ago
Unfortunately, funders don't want to restrict where researchers can publish the work (in order to prevent themselves from being able to silence results they might not like, i.e. hinder "academic freedom"). This means that this demand is implemented by simply paying hugely disproportionate publishing fees ("article processing charges") to the same old journals to make the individual articles they funded available as open access.

ademup 8y ago

I would appreciate an explanation of this assertion. What makes them criminal?

mirimir 8y ago
As far as I know, they're not breaking any laws, so they're not criminals. Basically, over the years, they acquired a bunch of academic publishers that were effectively not-for-profit. And since, they've been raising prices. Harvesting market position. Sure, that's not illegal. But it's arguably immoral.
aurizon 8y ago
Well, not criminal, nor is Disney, but people who bribe law makers to extend copyright to defeat the purpose of copyright seem criminal to me. Remember, copyright was made to give authors a period of monopoly, then open source. What if Microsoft bribed law makers to extend patents for 100 years? or drug makers?

creddit 8y ago

Extreme hyperbole like this rarely helps your case. Please try to elevate your discussion. Elsevier is a significant drain on public benefit relative to free/open journals but that doesn't make them criminal.

belorn 8y ago
Research that is funded by the public for the public is being put in the hand of for-profit organizations like Elsevier and then held private unless someone pays. Its not criminal but it is also more than just a drain on public benefit relative to free/open journals. Its like if we paid taxes to build and maintain roads and bridges, only to have the constructor give the rights of the finished result to a toll-both company in order so they could evaluate and rate how good the individual construction workers are and make it easier to promote and hire them in the future. It make no sense for any practical profession to behave like this, and yet thats how academia has operated for ages. It is time that the public get what it paid for.