Cornell and Other Universities to Cancel Elsevier Titles
:: Continuing the previous thread, Information Today has issued an article called "Cornell and Other University Libraries to Cancel Elsevier Titles", by Paula J Hane. Subscription costs to scholarly journals continue to rise beyond what academic libraries are able to reasonably afford. ARL statistics for the period of 1986-2001 show that while serial unit costs rose by 215%, the Consumer Price Index for the same period rose only 62%, and the number of serials purchases decreased by 5%. Cornell provides a list of 200 Elsevier titles targeted for cancellation in 2004. Harvard is planning a similar cancellation project.
How much longer can libraries continue to sustain such large annual subscription price increases from the largest for-profit scholarly publishing companies? According to the article, some universities are strongly urging their faculty members to publish elsewhere:
- The Academic Senate at UC Santa Cruz recently passed a resolution demanding reasonable rates and urging faculty “to seriously consider cutting ties with Elsevier by refusing to sit on its boards, referee its journals, and submit papers to the publisher.” UCSC currently spends half of its budget for online journals on its subscription to ScienceDirect Online from Elsevier.