Researchers hitting Elsevier paywall up to 10,000 times a day
Researchers at German universities are hitting Dutch journal publisher Elsevier’s paywall up too 10,000 times a day, reports Nature.
Over a year after a number of German universities announced they would let their subscriptions lapse in order to put pressure on Elsevier during ongoing negotiations for a new nationwide licensing agreement, scientists are relying on acquiring journal articles through different channels.
Swedish scientists are also blocked from immediate access to Elsevier’s journal articles, since Sweden’s universities joined the boycott in May 2018. Researchers now rely on contacting the authors of journal articles directly, or by ordering articles through institutions that do still have Elsevier subscriptions.
Scientists have described the lack of immediate access as frustrating, reporting that it causes unnecessary delays. Uppsala University academic Lynn Kamerlin said: ‘This is damaging to research, and punishes researchers, not publishers.’
However, head of the central library at Germany’s Jülich research centre Bernhard Mittermaier said that requests for articles are usually fulfilled within one working day, and for urgent requests, the library pays the immediate-access fee, saving about half of its previous subscription budget. ‘We can buy literally everything that our customers need,’ said Mittermaier.
Tags: elsevier
Category: Library news International
