The excessive profits made by major publisher companies were dealt with by George Monbiot a few months ago and discussed on the Forum. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/29/academic-publishers-murdoch-socialist
Related to this I think is Beall's listing on predatory or illegitimate online journal companies. It is fascinating reading. All the journals and companies he lists are not 'ranked' or 'listed' journals and you pay quite a lot to publish there. He feels the fees are too high or the quality control is too weak. There is a discussion about Elsevier at the bottom of the web page, although it clearly does not fall into the categories developed by Beall (vanity journals and for-profit/low quality journals with high publication fees and little quality control). Elsevier is just very commercial, as Monbiot pointed out.
Beall's List of Predatory, Open-Access Publishers Beall's List of Predatory, Open-Access Publishers by Jeffrey Beall 2012 Edition http://metadata.posterous.com/83235355
PS Sadly there are a few geographers on the editorial boards of some of Beall's listed journals - knowingly or not! .....and some crap journals pad out their editorial boards with people that have not actually approached beforehand....!
Dr. Simon Batterbury
Director | Office for Environmental Programs | Walter Boas Building (163) | University of Melbourne, 3010 VIC, Australia. &
Associate Professor | Dept. of Resource Management and Geography| 221 Bouverie St (rm L2.33)
+61 (0)3 8344 5073 (OEP) | direct +61 (0)3 8344 9319 | simonpjb@ unimelb.edu.au | http://www.simonbatterbury.net | http://www.environment.unimelb.edu.au
-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Cloke [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, 16 January 2012 11:10 PM
Subject: Elsevier - out of the arms trade, into public research control
It seems that Elsevier is buying itself the Research Works Act in the US, which is "a bill introduced in the US House of Representatives that seeks to end the NIH's Public Access Policy."
Worthy of attention for our colleagues across the pond...?
http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=846
Dr Jon Cloke
Lecturer/Research Associate
Geography Department
Loughborough University
Loughborough LE11 3TU
Office: 01509 228193
Mob: 07984 813681
|