Elsevier backtracks on research bill

CBC News 04 March 2012

One of the largest academic publishers in the world withdrew its support last Monday from a controversial United States bill, the Research Works Act, that critics feel would restrict public access to published, publicly funded research, reports CBC News.

The change of heart by Dutch publisher Elsevier follows a boycott of its journals and publishing ventures by thousands of researchers around the world. More than 7,400 researchers publicly declared they would not publish in Elsevier journals or peer-review papers for those journals, or do editing work for them as part of a ‘Cost of Knowledge’ boycott launched in January. The researchers normally provide those services for free to scientific journal publishers.

Elsevier said in a statement last Monday that it hopes its withdrawal of support for the US bill "will address some of the concerns expressed and help create a less heated and more productive climate for our ongoing discussions with research funders".
Full report on the CBC News site

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