the name of The project formulated the claim. A DEAL want to negotiate the German science organizations, with the large science publishers, national licenses, which will come instead of expensive Einzelabos. In Parallel, the universities and research institutions are to achieve the transition to Open Access, which means that in the future, not the reader of a scientific publication should pay, but the institutions behind the authors.
the longer the negotiations take, and they last for years, the more the project name is also a reminder: Now, your DEAL makes him finally. But, of all things, with the world’s most important academic publisher Elsevier, the talks have not stalled, they are exposed to since July of 2018, completely, on the Initiative of the Alliance of science organisations and under the auspices of the German rectors ‘ conference (HRK).
A return on sales of the last 37%
The HRK to increase with the drastic step of public pressure on Elsevier what is not likely to be so difficult. Normally, the note on the fantastic return on sales ranges from a least 37%, in order to make clear who is exploiting whom. But gradually the science has to careful not to overplay its hand.
more Than 200 libraries, universities and research institutions are now in a Contracting state with Elsevier, that is to say: you have encouraged out of the DEAL-Negotiators, their subscriptions be cancelled to put the publisher under pressure to act, and because they put on an early agreement. For a long time Elsevier afraid to lose the last sympathy points for scholars and students, the use of his journals to the concerned institutions run free of charge. Until last July: After the HRK had broken off the negotiations, made Elsevier the Free-access sealing.
Excellent research, but a Stopgap in the current articles
Since then, the pressure on the Alliance and the HRK to grow. A further use of Elsevier’s publications, “for their work an indispensable resource” for many researchers, “only possible with great difficulty”, complained a 30-Journal-editor in October an open letter. Especially the young researchers, the stand is already under a “often existential time – and the pressure to” be affected. The HRK, speaks of a Situation “without significant problems”. So the question must be allowed: Excellent research and Expedients in the use of current articles, a reliable framework for the science and a contractual vacuum when journal access – how to go about this?
Meanwhile, Elsevier plays very convincing in the role of the spurned benefactor, which is gone down in to key points on the claims of science. What denies the HRK vehemently.
Sure is not happening. This tug of war no one understands. Also of note is the DEAL-people that it is over with the two other major publishers, Springer and Wiley, and better, attracting more and less. Yes, Elsevier needs to move even more. But also the scientific organisations need to acknowledge that you can not achieve all of their demands. And at the very least, by taking not at the time of negotiations. The DEAL must now come.
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Astrid Herbold
The author is a Journalist of education and lives in Berlin. On his Blog www.jmwiarda.de he commented on current events in schools and colleges.
