The uni system wasn’t dreaming when it walked away from Elsevier

In negotiations over journal pricing the U Cal network asked publishing giant Elsevier to make articles by its academics open-access. According to UCal, Elsevier’s response was an offer that increased costs for the university (CMM March 4).

So, the university network walked, and is still walking, towards open access offers. U Cal now  it has struck a deal with University of Cambridge Press, “one of the first and largest transformative open access publishing agreements in the United States to date.”

A new model in the making for journal giant: Elsevier appears to be holding the line on open access to content in its journals, setting article processing charges, paid by academic authors or more likely their institutions, ranging from US $150 to US $5000.

But its overall strategy is changing as it diversifies from publishing into data services and analysis. Elsevier’s subsidiary Mendeley is working with Monash U and three international universities on ways to track the location of research data, with a new product due year end.

It’s a ways from the old journal model but when U Cal cancels subscriptions it needs to be.